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Pedants' corner

..."to all intensive purposes..."

322 replies

BelfastBloke · 17/09/2010 06:15

Anyone notice this yesterday in a thread?

I kept waiting for a pedant to jump in, but you didn't.

What are some other comedy mishearings?

OP posts:

Report

EugenesAxe · 04/04/2014 08:03

I think 'if the cat fits' is hilarious! I am often guilty of mixing my metaphors; my most memorable being 'you've just got to bite the biscuit'.

Still don't get Suda's 'nobody was seriously injured' though.

DadDadDad I saw the word so someone must have. Or must of.

EugenesAxe · 04/04/2014 08:05

Forgot to say that my Dad hates football managers saying 'we've got to address the balance'. It annoys me now, too.

EugenesAxe · 04/04/2014 08:07

Hmm. I struck out the subject - not great on a pedants' thread.

curiousuze · 04/04/2014 08:59

I remember Adam and Joe doing a phone in for these - my favourite was 'your room looks like a bombsy tip' for 'your room looks like a bomb's hit it'.

I actually search for 'Chester draws' on eBay - you can get a bargain because no one else can find them!

MirandaGoshawk · 04/04/2014 14:21

DH insists on saying 'ten to the dozen' instead of '19 to the dozen'. So that'll be slower, then?

BlueberryWoods · 06/04/2014 09:41

A friend was so happy she was on "cloud seven".

Oakmaiden · 06/04/2014 09:45

"Bare with me"

No, rather not. I hardly know you...

Jinsei · 06/04/2014 11:19

I have a colleague who is always saying "in one fair swoop". And she says ambiguous instead of ambivalent!

Jinsei · 06/04/2014 11:21

Oh, and another colleague complained that certain issues were "exasperating" an already bad situation!

LauraShigihara · 06/04/2014 11:29

My absolute favourite on here was a poster complaining that it was 'a doggy dog world'.

Woof woof.

MirandaGoshawk · 07/04/2014 21:55

I've posted this before but I love it so...

DD (20) told me that her mate had landed a part in a jousting tournament-type show - she was going to play the "damson in distress"

BelfastBloke · 26/07/2014 21:38

If the cat fits.

It's a doggy dog world.

Excellent.

OP posts:

Limer · 26/07/2014 23:33

"in the throws of" crops up regularly.

Recent one from FB, a friend's daughter was having fun doing "summer salts" on their trampoline.

austenozzy · 26/07/2014 23:53

I had a colleague who would 'throw a spaniel in the works', and ask me to 'send him my condiments'.

Haven't rtft, apols if repeating.

BerylStreep · 01/08/2014 11:34

How you are interrupting the policy (instead of interpreting)
this needs to be resolved expediciously (instead of expeditiously)
means staff will be effected (instead of the staff being affected)

This all in one work e-mail from a colleague. My eyes were bleeding!

BelfastBloke · 11/09/2014 07:09

"It's part for the course, for the Conservative Party"

OP posts:

BelfastBloke · 14/10/2014 13:06

"You deserve a pad on the back"

OP posts:

Camsie30 · 14/10/2014 13:20

I wish that Mumsnet had a "like" button for threads of this nature, I would happily be clicking all of your posts!

I can't stand the misuse of the word "myself" - usually by people who think that it makes them sounds more intelligent than just saying, correctly, me.

cathyandclaire · 14/10/2014 13:28

Great thread.
DD (16 and doing AS English) said "when all sudden done" instead of " when all said and done" she had been making the mistake for years, including (she fears) in some English essays

cathyandclaire · 14/10/2014 13:29

sorry, "when all is said and done"
It's stressful posting with pedants!

TapDancingPimp · 14/10/2014 13:57

"I love lye-ins on Saturdays!" - Facebook friend.

"This satisfys the outstanding condition" - work colleague.

"Just a small slither for me, thanks" - another work colleague.

s113 · 14/10/2014 14:02

For a long time, I thought a particular phrase from Judge John Deed was

"She was his coke and spiriter".

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OneHandFlapping · 14/10/2014 14:09

Bog standard. It's BULK standard ie a variable that has been standardised across a large quantity. WTF does BOG standard mean?

DadDadDad · 14/10/2014 15:49

Except that "bog-standard" seems to be an accepted phrase for the most basic standard. From (possibly) a slang word for toilet. (You only got it in white).

en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bog_standard

(Unfortunately, in my mind the adjective is associated with "comprehensive school", which is unfair on comprehensive schools).

By the way, that link came up with a two-second Google, so you took a bit of risk posting that to a load of pedants without checking first.

PurpleWithRed · 14/10/2014 15:54

"defend for yourself" instead of "fend for your self" DH, I am looking at you...

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