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Common saying that far too many people get wrong.

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Another pet hate is the people who want to borrow something from you, but say "can I have a lend of your pencil/teacup/headphones/etc?".

Then there are the people who say "mischievious" instead of "mischievous".
 

kumanoki

Member
I'm from the South. So I hear things that annoy the hell out of me, like:

"It's over chere." and "Ain't." Everyday is a new adventure in illiteracy.
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
this doesnt happen much anymore, but back in junior high and high school, people asking to borrow a piece of paper.. what, are they going to give it back to me with their notes on it? Just ask for the piece of paper.
 
GG-Duo said:
Deliberate mis-pronunciations rock.

For example, I like saying "Swiss Chaa-Let" instead of "Swiss Shel-Lay" :D

zapp.jpg

"Would you care for some CHAM-PAG-IN?"
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
Also, its "You've got another think coming" not "You've got another thing coming".

While I'm here, here are some cool phrases that should still be in use:
1) I don't give a tinkers damn - means I dont care, its a clever play on words in reference to a tool.
2) I'm your huckleberry - when someone needs help its a way of saying "I'll help", in reference to Huckleberry Finn allways being there for Tom Sawyer.
3) Did the rabbit die? - when a someone is sick (generally a woman) and tells you such (or says Ive got a headache, or my stomach hurts) you reply with the sayings. Back in the day the only way to tell if someone was pregnant was to take the urine of a woman and inject it in a rabbit. You then killed the rabbit to check for some sort of reaction in the rabbits ovaries... also featured in the aerosmith song "Sweet Emotion"
 

Loki

Count of Concision
Hah, I used to hear some doozies at the restaurant I worked in. One time a customer said to me, "may I have a glass of the mer-LOT" (which is supposed to be pronounced roughly "mer-low"); I then asked him whether he'd like a nice "chay-bliss" (chablis, a white wine which is supposed to be said as "sha-blee") instead, since he was having the swordfish. :D
 

xsarien

daedsiluap
Not so much used incorrectly, but overused to the point of me wanting to get jobs at certain websites just so I can throttle a few people.

"a la," "arena," and to a lesser extent, "department."


(Yes, I'm talking about gaming websites.)
 

kumanoki

Member
Who vs. Whom. I know it's difficult.

Just look at MAF's recent thread.

Grammatically, it should read 'Whom can you not stand more?' Oh well.
 

geogaddi

Banned
oh man...the one that truly pisses me off is when someone says ;

"Dave Weckl is better then Mike Portnoy"

That one utterly kills me.


btw, I always thought LOL meant "laughing out loud" not "laugh out loud".
 

AniHawk

Member
Not sure if it has been mentioned yet, but:

Its = possessive
It's = contraction of "it" and "is" or "has" (I think)

Their = possessive
They're = contraction of "they" and "are"
There = location or used with the verb "to be" as an idiom
 

Tarazet

Member
TheQueen'sOwn said:
"You're such an idot!"

I see that so much around here you idiots! ;) ;)

Heh, I love intentional GAF misspellings.

get that HERENDUS thing out of here
you are ingonrant
that thing is ginormous/ginormos
YOU ARE HIDEOS
 

TheQueen'sOwn

insert blank space here
What are you listening too?

I love, love, love that! I also love how JoshuaJSlone posts, "No, I'm not." every friggin time :lol.
 

kablooey

Member
StoOgE said:
A crank is also an eccentric or nutty person. So a crank letter or crank call would be a call produced by such a person. As far as I know, "crank call"l is 'correct' and I have a feeling that "prank call" is just a mispronunciation of "crank call".. but Im not positive and both "crank call" and "prank call" make sense, but Im resonably sure most people have no clue what crank means (in this sense).

Hmm. I never understood what a "crank" was. I figured it was being used as a way of saying "to wind up", so a crank call would be a call you make to wind someone up. I just thought of that on my own, and figured that must be the reason behind it. Oh well.
 
StoOgE said:
A crank is also an eccentric or nutty person. So a crank letter or crank call would be a call produced by such a person. As far as I know, "crank call"l is 'correct' and I have a feeling that "prank call" is just a mispronunciation of "crank call".. but Im not positive and both "crank call" and "prank call" make sense, but Im resonably sure most people have no clue what crank means (in this sense).

There's also the whole thing of winding a crank, and winding someone up.
 

Poody

What program do you use to photoshop a picture?
Flynn said:

:lol somehow that fit in just perfectly.

Mama Smurf said:
Are you saying people use it incorrectly? Otherwise I don't see anything wrong with just using the start of a saying when everyone knows what the entire thing is.

It's like saying "The devil you know". Everyone knows the rest and can just fill it in in their heads.

no i think hes using too many periods.
 

shpankey

not an idiot
Lemurnator said:
Irreguardless, I could care less.

Well, technically, it's legit; although it's certainly colloquial (ie: substandard). From webster dictionary...

Main Entry: ir·re·gard·less
Pronunciation: "ir-i-'gärd-l&s
Function: Adverb

Etymology: Probably blend of irrespective and regardless

Nonstandard: Regardless

Usage: Irregardless originated in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century. Its fairly widespread use in speech called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that "there is no such word." There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.

...although if you were meaning the misspelling, then I missed your fun-poke. ;)
 
StoOgE said:
A crank is also an eccentric or nutty person. So a crank letter or crank call would be a call produced by such a person. As far as I know, "crank call"l is 'correct' and I have a feeling that "prank call" is just a mispronunciation of "crank call".. but Im not positive and both "crank call" and "prank call" make sense, but Im resonably sure most people have no clue what crank means (in this sense).

Could it date back to older phones?
 

Drozmight

Member
I always type your instead of you're without thinking.

I'm sure I butcher the english language a lot more than I realize... but if it's leisure time, who really gives a shit. For instance, on GAF and AIM I rarely put any effort into my language. If I'm typing something up for school, or work it's a whole notha story.
 
Contradictions in the english language annoy me:- past tense especially

swim -> swam (not swimmed)
jump -> jumped (not jamp)

I ignore it and say jamp anyway

'I jamp over the stream'

sounds better than

'I jumped over the stream' IMO

Yeah that shit really annoys me... :lol

also plurals

fish -> fish (not fishes)
dish -> dishes (not dish)

:lol WTF? :lol
 

sonicfan

Venerable Member
One that always gets me is "past history".

I hear this on TV all the time. As in, "If you look at the past history of the GAF, you might believe that blah blah blah". As opposed to looking at what, the "future history"? What other type of history is there other than the past? (outside exotic physics time travel that is) :D
 

Drozmight

Member
gollumsluvslave said:
Contradictions in the english language annoy me:- past tense especially

swim -> swam (not swimmed)
jump -> jumped (not jamp)

I ignore it and say jamp anyway

'I jamp over the stream'

sounds better than

'I jumped over the stream' IMO

Yeah that shit really annoys me... :lol

also plurals

fish -> fish (not fishes)
dish -> dishes (not dish)

:lol WTF? :lol


drink -> drunk, not drank. That's one that annoys me sometimes. Drank sounds better IMO, but I had a teacher one time that would go off if you used it. She ruined drank for me.
 

iapetus

Scary Euro Man
Cyan said:
"Aluminum" is correct. The Brits decided to change it later since it didn't match up with all those metals that ended in "i-u-m." So sorry, but we're right and you're wrong.

You are, of course, wrong.

Davy's original name for the (as yet undiscovered) metal in 1807 was 'alumium'. This later became 'aluminum', and shortly afterwards was brought into line with other metals and became 'aluminium'. This was not a change by 'the Brits', but an IUPAC decision, making it the standard international name for the metal. Including the US until as recently as 1925, when the American Chemical Society made the (mildly inexplicable) decision to revert to 'aluminum', a throwback which is in common usage in the US only to this day.
 

iapetus

Scary Euro Man
gblues said:
Except the joke is, at its core, a pun (fox -> faux). The pun DOES NOT WORK because the two words are not pronounced the same!

I disagree. You can have a visual pun as easily as a spoken pun - the words look like they might be pronounced similarly. Just because I speak French doesn't mean I suddenly become unable to see the similarity.
 

aoi tsuki

Member
kumanoki said:
I'm from the South. So I hear things that annoy the hell out of me, like:

"It's over chere." and "Ain't." Everyday is a new adventure in illiteracy.
Yeah, i had these two girls last week who asked for a grande-assed mocha. Turns out they wanted a grande iced latte. Hilarity ensued when i explained my confusion. i thought it was just a fluke until yesterday and a guy asked for the a grande-assed latte. Southern accents boggle me.
 

AirBrian

Member
Its not really a saying, but for Pete sakes, their is know "B" in supposedly!

It's not really a saying, but for Pete's sake, there is no "B" in supposedly!

:D
 

maharg

idspispopd
Ain't is just a contraction, it's not a missaying at all.

Foyer is "foi-eh" (more or less) not "fooyer." God damn it I hate that.
 

Hollywood

Banned
Instead of fringe benefits, say french benefits. Explain it as to how the US helped the French in WWII is where it comes from. I used to say that for a while ... :lol As a joke of course.
 

Dragmire

Member
Their ain't nothing I mispronounce incorrectly.

I'm good with grammar, so I often notice incorrect sayings and pronunciations. I usually let them slide, however. I hate it when people replace the TH sound, as in 'thin' with the F sound. It's my birfday and there's nuffin to do! It seems to be a big thing in urban culture. As is saying something like "What do it do" instead of "what does it do?" Then there's the very common 'probably' being turned into 'probly?' And as someone mentioned, misuse of the word 'who' is extremely common. "That present is for whom?" I, however, use perfect grammar and have since I was a tot. Thank God for perfection.
 
Dragmire said:
I'm good with grammar, so I often notice incorrect sayings and pronunciations. I usually let them slide, however. I hate it when people replace the TH sound, as in 'thin' with the F sound. It's my birfday and there's nuffin to do!

And have you noticed how often "I am going to..." becomes "Ummona...", as in "Ummona get somefin' to drink"? And I even hear it shortened to "Umna": "Umna get outta here".

Of course, when other people do it, it's poor diction; when I do it, it's data compression.
 
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