Hey all.

So I just finished typing up a little rant, and decided that maybe I should start a thread for people to contribute their own examples which they have come across. What am I talking about? Well...

Quote Originally Posted by Fiery Diamond View Post
It was bugging me, too. I was going to point it out if no one else did.

Rant incoming!

English has its share of strange phrases, many of which don't necessarily make sense at first glance; but seriously, most of them actually make semantic sense at the least. Too many people on forums [and other places] type what they think a phrase they've heard sounds like without ever bothering to see if it makes any sense at all, which results in some rather bizarre permutations of common phrases. "Intensive purposes," anyone? [Seriously: Intents and purposes.] Or how about things that I can only assume people think are some kind of slang or verbal tic instead of actually thinking about what things are being said? [There is no "should of," "could of," "would of." That makes no semantic or grammatical sense at all. It isn't slang. It's a freaking contraction: "should've," "could've," "would've."] ... /rant
That's what I'm talking about. I see things like this all the time. It's not like I don't understand how it happens; I'm guilty of it myself. You grow up hearing a phrase (or are introduced to a phrase when you're just learning the language) and you internalize what you THINK you heard, whether or not that's actually what was said. And sometimes, if the person/people you heard it from did the same thing, they might actually have said the wrong thing. So you use what you think you know and never bother to question it, because let's face it: English is a bizarro language sometimes. It's my contention, though, that you SHOULD bother to question it, because much of the time the correct phrase does make at least some sense.

Also, note that while many of these types of things are more apparent when someone is typing on the internet, quite a few are things you actually hear people say incorrectly, sometimes with great frequency (depending on who you live near).

So, feel free to share ones you have seen (or fallen for yourself!) before. Here's my short list (I've seen more, but I need to get to bed and don't feel like working my brain too hard to remember) to start us off.

Presented in the format of *Mistaken form//Actual form

*Intensive purposes//Intents and purposes
*Lone behold//Lo and behold (this was the one in the thread that prompted my mini rant)
*Should of//Should've
*Could of//Could've
*Would of//Would've
*Mute point//Moot point
*Nip [the problem] in the butt//Nip [the problem] in the bud
*Buttload//Boatload
*Hone in on//Home in on
*Suppose to//Supposed to (this one results from the fact that in normal speech, we glide the words together)


And one last one that might be a little controversial because there are so freaking many people who say the wrong thing... (though to be fair, the wrong version actually makes sense, and the correct version is a little unusual since that word is not usually used like that)

*If you think [X], then you've got another thing coming//If you think [X], then you've got another think coming