this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2025
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Please state in which country your phrase tends to be used, what the phrase is, and what it should be.

Example:

In America, recently came across "back-petal", instead of back-pedal. Also, still hearing "for all intensive purposes" instead of "for all intents and purposes".

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[–] viralJ@lemmy.world 10 points 15 hours ago (7 children)

I'm not entirely against it, but I'm amused by how common it is to put "whole" inside of "another", making it "a whole nother". Can anyone give any other use of the word "nother"?

[–] con_fig@programming.dev 6 points 15 hours ago

It's other, another is a whole other issue... heh

[–] witty_username@feddit.nl 3 points 13 hours ago

Q: "Did she do that?"
A: "No it was nother"

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)
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[–] 8000gnat@reddthat.com 3 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

Idiocracy is literally a documentary anymore

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[–] theedqueen@lemmy.world 47 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (4 children)

English/US - seeing “would of” instead of “would’ve”or “would have”. This one bugs me the most.

[–] viralJ@lemmy.world 5 points 15 hours ago

The thing is that, at least in the UK, many people also say "of". You might say that in quick speech it's not possible to tell between "would've" and "would of" which is probably where this misspelling came from, but I once was talking to my English friend and after he said something quickly, I asked if he just said that "she would see it?", to which he replied "she would OF seen it" putting a lot of emphasis on that "of", making it clear that he wasn't aware that it should be "have".

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[–] Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk 13 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

People using 'yourself' and 'myself' instead of 'you' and 'me' when trying to sound formal or posh. You don't sound formal or posh, you sound ill-educated.

[–] viralJ@lemmy.world 11 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I remember once being on a call with some customer support guy who didn't seem to even be aware that words "you" and "me" exist. My favourite part of the conversation was when he said "let myself put yourself on hold while I ask a senior colleague to clarify this for myself".

[–] SpiderShoeCult@sopuli.xyz 2 points 10 hours ago

were they speaking hiberno-english by any chance?

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[–] Bosht@lemmy.world 31 points 21 hours ago (3 children)

Idiots misspelling lose as loose drives me up the wall. Even had someone defend themselves claiming it's just the common spelling now and to accept it. There, their, and they're get honorable mention. Nip it in the butt as opposed to correctly nipping it in the bud.

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[–] BenLeMan@lemmy.world 24 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Alot is not a word.

Also, the vanishing use of countable quantities: they are all amounts nowadays.

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

We can make it a word though :)

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago

Yeah, words aren't determined by dictionary committees or English teachers. They are determined by people using and understanding them.

All languages (other than ones designed deliberately, like Esperanto, Klingon, and Tolkien's elvish) started from the same root and diverged when populations reduced regular contact and all words and grammars were made up along the way.

[–] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 34 points 22 hours ago

There is no fucking s at the end of "anyway"

[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 29 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Discreet vs Discrete used to crack me up on dating sites. All those guys looking for discrete hookups - which kind of makes sense but I am sure is not what they meant.

I literally ground my teeth today because I got an email from a customer service person saying "You're package was returned to us". Not a phishing email with an intentional misspelling, a legitimate email for a real order I made. If it is your JOB to send messages like this they ought not have misspellings.

So the context matters to me. I am more tolerant of spelling errors and mis-phrasing in everyday life than in a professional communication.

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 3 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

they ought not have misspellings

Wouldn't it be "ought not to"?

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