Do it off your own bat... Not back!

[Cooroo]

This one bugs me. It's from cricket isn't it? Back just doesn't make sense.

And while I'm at it, am I the only person who pronounces 'dissect' correctly? It's dis-sect ffs not 'di-sect'. This was my dad's pet hate and I battle on in his memory!

I know nothing about Cricket; we don't play it in my country, and we don't use that expression. I say dis-sect, but I think most dictionaries give both pronunciations.

OP, you are not wrong in the examples you quote.

But are you absolutely sure that you have every expression and every pronunciation down pat? Because there's a lot of room for error out there.

Judge not lest ye be judged.

Agree with you on that one, Coroo. I have a colleague that uses 'Off your own back' all the time.

The other one he says is 'We should urge on the side of caution.'

Grrrrr.

Running - no I probably do lots of things wrong, but if I can't enjoy a little rant in Pedants' Corner then where can I?

Love 'urge on the side of caution'! Hadn't heard that one before.

Had a dear colleague who always said poignant when she meant pertinent but liked her too much to tell her!

I had an email from our Head of Inclusion (of all people) about a particularly difficult boy who she was going to remove from my class for a while as I needed 'rest bite' apparently. I was speechless.

It's dis-sect ffs not 'di-sect'.

Pronunciation, it varies, big deal.

Cooroo, you have just cleared up for me the mystery of my ex bf's bizarre misuse of 'poignant'. Thank you. He was trying to say 'pertinent'.

Definitely 'bat' - there's been a lot of 'back' around on MN this week, and it's made my flu (which is flu not a cold) just that little bit worse.

Sprog There, there - nonexistent cool hand on forehead smiley. Hope you are feeling better today.

I'm from London and at school it was always di-sect. Have never heard it pronounced dis-sect.

Sometimes one is in the wrong and happily, doesn't even know there is a wrong in which to be

I worked for a headteacher who used to say flown the coot instead of coop

I also hate unchartered territory

Pet hate bad pronunciations particularly from newsreaders are vunerable and deteriate

I don't think dissect is about differing but valid pronunciations. Bisect means to cut (sect) in two (bi-). Dissect means to cut apart, dis- as in distract, distraught, dissonance. You wouldn't say die-distract would you?

Die-stract I meant!

So, Cooroo, you are saying that bisect and dissect are pronounced diffferently? (After the initial letter, obvs.)

The online Oxford dictionary & the Free dictionary both give pronunciation as dai-sekt.

Not that I always agree with the dictionary, becasue it just reflects usage, rather than necessarily what's "right" imo.

*because

damn fat fingers!