So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[scottyrocks]

Around here I'd replace "amazing" with "awesome" and have the same results. It's reached the point where I avoid using the word "awesome" just for that reason--it's almost so over-used that it's lost it's true meaning.

If awesome is on the other side of great, wouldn't 'aweall' be the epitome?

 

[MisterCairo]

Like, I was like watching this movie last night, and like, it was like totally awesome and stuff. It was like, amazing. Like, you know?

 

[Hercule]

Thinly sliced (shaved) lean corned beef. It's inedible! Heaven forbid there should be the slightest bit of fat on it. We went to a new (for us) restaurant and I ordered the Corned beef and latkes. I nearly choked it was so dry and flavorless. I chopped up the leftover (which was most of it) and made a hash out of it. I put a honking big chunk of butter on it and slathered it all up with ketchup which was the only way to make it go down.

 

[2jakes]

If awesome is on the other side of great, wouldn't 'aweall' be the epitome?

'I couldn't care less.'

 

[Zombie_61]

'Could care less.' Why would someone say they 'could care less?' That means they care, and more than just the minimal amount. When I don't care I 'couldn't care less.'

At times I find this annoying, but I'm also mildly amused by it. It seems some people learn a phrase incorrectly and never put any real thought into what they're saying, so they never realize they aren't saying what they think they're saying. With regards to this example I probably could care less, but I'm not convinced I should care less.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"I could care less" expresses the intended meaning when delivered in a Yiddish accent.

 

[MisterCairo]

"Chomping" at the bit, vice "Champing" at the bit.

My wife didn't believe me.

I ride English. She teaches it...

 

[Fading Fast]

Worked with a guy who said "escaped goat" instead of "scapegoat -" it was very small of me, but I found it insanely funny. Since he used the expression regularly, I mentioned it to him once - quietly and off to the side that "I think it might be 'scapegoat' -" but he dismissed my comment and kept using "escaped goat."

I think I mentioned this before, but at another firm and many years apart, I worked with the Chief Operating Office of a major brokerage firm - a super intelligent guy (and as nice as they come), but fitting a stereotype, he could bungle expressions with the best of them. He had many, but my favorite was when he described a talented but unrestrained manager as "a bull in a china cabinet." It was in a senior meeting with the bigwigs (not me, I was a not-important guy there) and it took everything I had not to burst into laughter. I literally was sweating I was trying so hard to not even crack a smile as I knew I'd loose it completely if I did.

 

[tonyb]

"Chomping" at the bit, vice "Champing" at the bit.

My wife didn't believe me.

I ride English. She teaches it...

“Hone” for “home.”

More often than not I see it used incorrectly, even in major metropolitan newspapers, which have (or had) generally competent copy editors. No, Mr. or Ms. Features Writer, the subject of your story did not “hone in” on something, unless it was a knife edge. No, he or she “homed in,” like a homing pigeon.

 

[LizzieMaine]

People who talk about their exercise "regiment." I had no idea the Army was so specialized.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

They're just one of many species of shield bug. This particular species was bought in with Chinese imports & been in the US since the late 90's.

Aye, there's the rub. They're not native, so they have no predators on this side of the planet. And with climate change being a thing, long hard freezes to kill they off are becoming less & less frequent. So between those two things they get progressively worse as time passes.

 

[Harp]

At times I find this annoying, but I'm also mildly amused... With regards to this example I probably could care less, but I'm not convinced I should care less.

Plain English read as abstruse legalities and most insidious encroachment of the First Amendment within
academic journals that tear at the very fabric of democracy; otherwise known as Citizens United v FEC, which
allows a latitude that hardly limits speech or obviates freedom of thought. Water cooler converse and the pragmatic
reach of the US Constitution's societal protection, and what happened to the Cubs?

 

[Zombie_61]

Worked with a guy who said "escaped goat" instead of "scapegoat -" it was very small of me, but I found it insanely funny. Since he used the expression regularly, I mentioned it to him once - quietly and off to the side that "I think it might be 'scapegoat' -" but he dismissed my comment and kept using "escaped goat."

We have a friend who regularly used the word "emancipated" in reference to a very thin person. The first time or three we were with other people and it would have embarrassed her if I had corrected her, but she finally used the word incorrectly when it was just the two of us and I joked, "Well, at least she was free to be skinny." She didn't get the joke, so I had to explain the difference between "emancipated" and "emaciated". She understood the difference and thanked me, but continued to use "emancipated" incorrectly because it was embedded in her brain.

 

[tonyb]

People who talk about their exercise "regiment." I had no idea the Army was so specialized.

Let us not forget the “tenants” of their religion.

Must be for those just trying it on a month-to-month basis.

 

[3fingers]

Well all I can say about all of these malaprops is that these folks thought they were using the correct word for all intensive purposes.

 

[scottyrocks]

"I could care less" expresses the intended meaning when delivered in a Yiddish accent.

I said it out loud this way and hahaed. Wish I could convey the sound here.

 

[EngProf]

Disclaimer - I didn't hear this myself but was told about it by my brother (whom I trust).
A co-worker of his would comment on how things were highly-competitive and cut-throat by saying: "It's a doggie-dog world."

 

[scottyrocks]

Another malaprop:

defiantly for definitely

Someone formerly close to me used to say, when something was amazingly (sorry) good, 'It was to die from.' Every time she said it, especially in public, I would cringe.

I explained, in private, that the phrase is 'to die for.' The way she said it implied that it was horrible enough to kill you.

She kept saying it that way, anyway. haha

Oh, and she also used, 'I could care less.' double haha

 

[vitanola]

"I could care less" expresses the intended meaning when delivered in a Yiddish accent.

By Pansy Nussbaum...
You were expecting maybe Teddy Rosenfeld?

 

[3fingers]

I worked for a man for quite a few years who was a fountain of mispronounced words and malaprops. People would ask us how we knew what he was saying most of the time. It wasn't hard to understand him once you learned his dialect. Even though the shop is long gone, when the old employees run into each other we will fall back into his language to keep the memories from being forgotten.