It’s ‘champing at the bit’ I tell you.

[fluffiphlox]

Not ‘chomping’ you numpties. (Ah that’s better).

[halfwitpicker]

It is champing.

[fluffiphlox]

halfwitpicker. I thought that’s what I said: it’s champing. I only mention it because someone here said their kids were’chomping’ at said bit and I wanted to vent. As you were.

[PlinkPlink]

Surely it's chomping? As in a bit - that bar that sits in a horse's mouth... ?

[SoupDragon]

Definitely champing.

[fluffiphlox]

No it’s ‘champing’. I can’t do links on here but if you google the phrase you will find I’m correct. 😉. It’s a common misconception.

[SoupDragon]

(Which actually means pretty much the same as chomping though)

[BluthsFrozenBananas]

It’s like “damp squid” isn’t it? Squib and champing are not commonly used words, so people replace them with more familiar words which also sort of work with the phrase.

[RatherBeRiding]

It's champing. Horses do not chomp at the bit. They champ. It's an industry term. See my user-name.

[SoupDragon]

Damp squid makes no sense whatsoever though. A damp squid isn't a let down it's a certainty :o

[BluthsFrozenBananas]

Unless it’s calamari, I’d rather that was nice and crispy...

[Knittink]

Yup. Champing and squib.

The one among many that annoys me is "I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less". It's the bloody opposite of what it's supposed to mean, fgs!

[SoftBlocks]

Definitely champing and sqib.

[OlennasWimple]

"I could care less" is the US version of "I couldn't care less" - I don't understand it, but then they don't understand our way round either

"Towing the line" is my pet homophone hate

[Abra1de]

I hate free reign.

It’s rein, you numpties.

[Limpetry]

You're not wrong, OP.

The 'could care less' usage has a long history in US English, though -- certainly I've been seeing it in American fiction all my reading life, before encountering it on here only much more recently, to the point where it only evokes a mild flicker of irritation.

'Click' and 'clicky' for 'clique' and (I suppose) 'cliquish', on the other hand, make me want to burst into flames of fury. Be as cliquish as you like, but spell it properly. Are these people also pronouncing 'clique' as 'click' when they say it aloud?

It makes me imagine huddles of hostile-looking mothers in school playgrounds, all clicking their fingers in unison like the Jets and the Sharks at the beginning of West Side Story.

[Limpetry]

X-post with Olenna on 'could care less'.

[fluffiphlox]

Thank God. There are people here that know...

[BluthsFrozenBananas]

Another homophone one is throws/throes. “She was in the throws of labour” makes me picture a woman chucking stuff around in the delivery room.

[MrsTerryPratcett]

Definitely pronounce it 'click' in North America.

I'm lobbying for a 'roiling' boil, which I was taught. Not 'rolling'.

[PlinkPlink]

I consider myself more educated now thanks to this thread 😂 bravo! I shall now say champing.

I knew about squib and throes though 😂

MrsTerry really?! But but but but... the cookery books... they say rolling!! 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Knittink]

I'm with you on clique (my friend says click and it gets me every time).
I've certainly never heard (or read) of a roiling boil though. Rolling boil for me.

[WhoTFIsAlanBrazil]

It makes me imagine huddles of hostile-looking mothers in school playgrounds, all clicking their fingers in unison like the Jets and the Sharks at the beginning of West Side Story

[AgentProvocateur]

The one that drives me insane, and it seems to be used only on MN, is que for cue. It’s not even a fucking word (unless you’re Spanish)!

[ladyvimes]

No one’s put in the old chestnut “another think coming” not “another thing coming”.

[Ohyesiam]

Definitely pronounce it 'click' in North America.
I remember an 80 s North American comedy about dorky teens wanting to hang with the cool kids in their new school . At the start of each episode one of the kids said
” we’ve gotta click with the right clique.”
Soo geurss the click pronunciation of clique isn’t universal in the states, or is ( like most things) newer than the 80s.