Page 11 | To ask for your misheard common sayings?

TheGhostsOfMeAndYou · 2023-11-25T01:09:55+00:00

My husband thinks I am ridiculous that I always thought the saying "another think coming" was "another ^thing^ coming" It's taken me 38 years to realise this and I now feel rather silly.

Abitofalark · 25/11/2023 19:34

DerekFaker · 25/11/2023 18:27

People who say 'bias' when they mean 'biased'.

"This news report is so bias."

Similarly with prejudice: 'You are so prejudice' when they mean prejudiced. Are they not taught about nouns in school?
Dropping the ending 'd' appears in other words too. 'You are supposed to go to work' becomes 'You are suppose to go to work'.

Northsideoftheriver · 25/11/2023 19:34

All through my teens and twenties I was saying ball part figure instead of ball park figure.

Not a common saying but another one was: pass the post stick notes 🫣

I got quite a lot of shit wrong.

PedantScorner · 25/11/2023 19:43

Are they not taught about nouns in school?
They don't seem to be taught how to use adjectives.

They get 'I'm bored' right but I think that's because they initially say 'I'm boring' and get 'Yes, you are'.

Notaflippinclue · 25/11/2023 19:57

Swinging the leg instead of swinging the lead

LegoDeathTrap · 25/11/2023 20:22

“I have mental health” (with the word “difficulties”, “issues”, “problems” missing).

I mean, you wouldn’t shorten “I have money worries” to “I have money”!!

Greenpolkadot · 25/11/2023 20:38

A football one,,,,,,
I asked dh what a grapefruit pass was

Turns out it's a 'great through pass '

HunterHearstHelmsley · 25/11/2023 20:49

ColleenDonaghy · 25/11/2023 11:36

Agree to a certain extent, although again that's not what I was referring to, I was talking about the insistence that informal regional terms are incorrect.

Re your other examples, it's a tough one. I agree that people only know the correct spellings if they read them but I also think it's right that everyone has access to social media regardless of their level of education or literacy.

Rest bite as I've said I love, it makes perfect sense.

Chester draws sounds nothing like chest of drawers in my accent but they're very similar for others. Draw instead of drawer is a very common error, and if we can have a Welsh dresser and a Belfast sink then it's not unreasonable to think that a particular style of drawer (or draw!) would be named from Chester.

I don't like the judgement on these threads.

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I know it's chest of drawers, and I'll write chest of drawers but in my accent (West Midlands), draws and drawers sound exactly the same. I've just practiced saying "chest of drawers" and it sounds exactly like "chester draws". If I was speaking a bit slower or less regionally, I'd probably pronounce the 'chest of' more clearly but it would still sound like draws.

Hopefully that makes sense, ha!

HunterHearstHelmsley · 25/11/2023 20:50

LegoDeathTrap · 25/11/2023 20:22

“I have mental health” (with the word “difficulties”, “issues”, “problems” missing).

I mean, you wouldn’t shorten “I have money worries” to “I have money”!!

This is one of my pet hates! There was someone raising money by selling wristbands for "mental health" in my local town today. I had to really bite my tongue to stop myself from saying... Do you mean mental ill-health?!

I work in the sector though so it probably irritates me more than it should.

Abitofalark · 25/11/2023 22:30

HunterHearstHelmsley · 25/11/2023 20:50

This is one of my pet hates! There was someone raising money by selling wristbands for "mental health" in my local town today. I had to really bite my tongue to stop myself from saying... Do you mean mental ill-health?!

I work in the sector though so it probably irritates me more than it should.

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With all this campaigning to break a taboo to get people to talk about their mental state instead of bottling things up, how odd that the very words 'mental illness' have become taboo. I heard someone involved in that type of campaign saying that he'd lost his relative to 'mental health'. It irritates me, whether it should or not.

MereDintofPandiculation · 25/11/2023 22:34

ApiratesaysYarrr · 25/11/2023 17:38

That's more pedantry than getting the words completely wrong like most of the examples on this thread, though. My dad used to take issue with sayings like this:

"Money is the root of all evil" (it's the love of money)

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It's also using an older meaning of "prove", to test. It means "the test of the pudding is in the eating", ie "we won't know whether it's good or bad until we try it", rather than " we will verify it by eating"

MereDintofPandiculation · 25/11/2023 22:36

"I am Power of Attorney for my father" - No, you are Attorney for your father, you have power of Attorney. You can't be power.

MereDintofPandiculation · 25/11/2023 22:38

"Tow the line" instead of "toe the line".

MereDintofPandiculation · 25/11/2023 22:40

LegoDeathTrap · 25/11/2023 20:22

“I have mental health” (with the word “difficulties”, “issues”, “problems” missing).

I mean, you wouldn’t shorten “I have money worries” to “I have money”!!

See also "I have a temperature", "I have blood pressure".

LegoDeathTrap · 25/11/2023 23:33

MereDintofPandiculation · 25/11/2023 22:40

See also "I have a temperature", "I have blood pressure".

Show quote history

Haha, exactly! You have a temperature, blood pressure and a heart beat? Congratulations, you are alive!

easylikeasundaymorn · 26/11/2023 00:10

PuttingDownRoots · 25/11/2023 12:27

If you think that you can do that, there will be a repercussion... I.e. a "thing".

I accept it was originally think. But after 35 years of hearing thing from friends, family, teachers etc... thing makes sense.

this might make sense if the phrase was
'If you think [x] you have a thing coming' (although sounds a bit odd) but because the phrase is ANOTHER think coming, doesn't work, sorry.
There hasn't been a first 'repurcussion' for there then to be another one.

RestingCatsArseFace · 26/11/2023 00:41

Ladyj84 · 25/11/2023 01:33

You do know the saying another thing coming is the saying right??? Long before they also added another think coming both meanings are pretty much the exact same...lol try Google all there for you to see

You know that a lot of the stuff on Google is written by people who have no idea what they are on about, right?

Anyone can put stuff out there which is why people are getting things wrong. Wiki, for example, is written by anyone who wants to do it. It is not always correct.

blacksax · 26/11/2023 01:06

Ladyj84 · 25/11/2023 01:32

What huh it is another thing coming where did you get think from lol

If you think you're right about that, you've got another think coming.

infor · 26/11/2023 01:44

PedantScorner · 25/11/2023 19:43

Are they not taught about nouns in school?
They don't seem to be taught how to use adjectives.

They get 'I'm bored' right but I think that's because they initially say 'I'm boring' and get 'Yes, you are'.

Edited

In hospital, a fellow patient asked his consultant why he found the short walk to the bathroom so exhausting.
The doctor, although an erudite and well educated man (for whom English was a second or third language) replied by describing living with the medical condition as 'tiresome' rather than 'tiring'.
The patient was no fool, but felt that his question had been side-stepped rather than answered incorrectly.

Brahumbug · 26/11/2023 03:01

One phrase that really irritates me is "painting the lily", such a dreadful abuse of Shakespeare, as well as making no sense.

Brahumbug · 26/11/2023 03:05

Oh my god! I meant "gilding the lily" annoys me!
Painting the lily is the correct expression!

SamphireAndSalmon · 26/11/2023 03:12

Pozz · 25/11/2023 01:51

Everyone says the H in NHS correctly, yet somehow many forget how to say it in HR department, H&M** etc.

Ooo good point. Haitching drives me nuts. Unless the speaker is Irish of course.

SamphireAndSalmon · 26/11/2023 03:13

it's quite a common assumption op....

https://amp.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/nov/18/mind-your-language-another-think

SamphireAndSalmon · 26/11/2023 03:14

CesareBorgia · 25/11/2023 02:17

Oh, not the 'haitch'/'aitch' argument again - we must have this once a week on MN. This is regional, and even political in some parts of the UK (NI). 'Haitch' is perfectly valid, and I say that as someone brought up in southern England where 'aitch' was the customary regional pronunciation.

Edited

It's not correct.

SamphireAndSalmon · 26/11/2023 03:14

Dunnoburt · 25/11/2023 02:19

Our Finance Director once sent a mass email saying that he wasn't "casting nasturtiums" 🌷 (hope I've spelt that right 🤣)

🤣🤣🤣

SamphireAndSalmon · 26/11/2023 03:18

Amyjones86 · 25/11/2023 05:33

I had a disagreement with someone a few years ago and they said ‘don’t use me as an escape goat’…they didn’t take too kindly to me bursting into laughter as all I could picture in my head was an escaped goat 🤣

🐐that's hilarious 🤣