Idiomatic Expressions People Get Wrong

Serial Kisser

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What are some idiomatic expressions people get wrong that drive you up the wall?


A few of mine are:

I could care less.

The actual saying goes "I couldn't care less." Though the difference in structure is minute, the difference in meaning is vast. There is the possibility of a miscommunication with this one, but more importantly the first just doesn't make sense in the context it's said. You say "I couldn't care less" to imply that the situation is something to which you are thoroughly indifferent.

Irregardless

Isn't actually a word. Regardless should be used.

For all intensive purposes

The actual saying is "with all intents and purposes." Granted, intents and purposes are really the same thing and may sound a bit redundant, but intensive purposes is just plain incorrect.


Same difference

My brother's favorite. Just plain annoys me.



What are yours?
 

wappingite

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"I could care less" is really annoying because it's the opposite of what people saying it incorrectly want to express. I could care less actually means I still care because there is still the potential ("could") to lessen the amount of caring. I couldn't care less means I'm at the nadir of caring...it cannot get any less or lower. Isn't the English language great?
 

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"I could care less" is really annoying because it's the opposite of what people saying it incorrectly want to express. I could care less actually means I still care because there is still the potential ("could") to lessen the amount of caring. I couldn't care less means I'm at the nadir of caring...it cannot get any less or lower. Isn't the English language great?

Agreed.
 

ConanTheBarber

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I could care less.

The actual saying goes "I couldn't care less." Though the difference in structure is minute, the difference in meaning is vast. There is the possibility of a miscommunication with this one, but more importantly the first just doesn't make sense in the context it's said. You say "I couldn't care less" to imply that the situation is something to which you are thoroughly indifferent.
Can't agree.
Idiom has conferred the same meaning on "I could care less" as on "I couldn't care less."
The difference in structure is, as you say, minute ... but the "vast" difference in meaning does not exist.
You're fighting the wind when you argue with idiom.
I know this expression drives some peeps up the wall, but I can't for the life of me understand why.

"He has a chip on his shoulder."
"That's a piece of cake."
"She's a real back seat driver."
These are hardly ever literally true when we say them ... but idiomatic use confers legitimacy on them.
No reason why "I could care less" should be treated differently.

[rant over:tongue:]
 
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798686

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'The proof is in the pudding.'

Well, no - the proof of the pudding... is in the eating. Thankyouverymuch. :p
 

bobg4400

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What are some idiomatic expressions people get wrong that drive you up the wall?


A few of mine are:

I could care less.

The actual saying goes "I couldn't care less." Though the difference in structure is minute, the difference in meaning is vast. There is the possibility of a miscommunication with this one, but more importantly the first just doesn't make sense in the context it's said. You say "I couldn't care less" to imply that the situation is something to which you are thoroughly indifferent.

Irregardless

Isn't actually a word. Regardless should be used.

For all intensive purposes

The actual saying is "with all intents and purposes." Granted, intents and purposes are really the same thing and may sound a bit redundant, but intensive purposes is just plain incorrect.


Same difference

My brother's favorite. Just plain annoys me.



What are yours?


I've never heard the incorrecto versions of the first and third one.
The third one sounds like something people would say because they misheard the saying from someone else and would change it when explained.


Ones that annoy me are

Have your cake and eat it too

It's incorrect.
The correct saying is
'You can't eat your cake and have it too'
Because it refers to not being able to have everything you want and the fact is, there's nothing stopping you from having a cake and eating it, but you can't eat a cake then 'have' it. i.e. get it back in cake form again.


Also
Wiktionary has an incomplete list of all the idioms in case anyone wants to learn some more
 
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umami_tsunami

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I had a boss years ago who had immigrated from Iran. He was very intelligent but struggled with business jargon and conversational colloquialisms. Some were hysterical: "I don't want to beat my horn, but..." or "Everyone was running around like a chicken had cut their head off!"
 
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798686

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I had a boss years ago who had immigrated from Iran. He was very intelligent but struggled with business jargon and conversational colloquialisms. Some were hysterical: "I don't want to beat my horn, but..." or "Everyone was running around like a chicken had cut their head off!"
LOL! I might start using those. :tongue:

And, tbh... I can't see the point in having a cake, if I'm not gna eat it! :biggrin1:
 
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223790

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What are some idiomatic expressions people get wrong that drive you up the wall?


A few of mine are:

I could care less.

The actual saying goes "I couldn't care less." Though the difference in structure is minute, the difference in meaning is vast. There is the possibility of a miscommunication with this one, but more importantly the first just doesn't make sense in the context it's said. You say "I couldn't care less" to imply that the situation is something to which you are thoroughly indifferent.

Irregardless

Isn't actually a word. Regardless should be used.

For all intensive purposes

The actual saying is "with all intents and purposes." Granted, intents and purposes are really the same thing and may sound a bit redundant, but intensive purposes is just plain incorrect.


Same difference

My brother's favorite. Just plain annoys me.



What are yours?

Oh man, you just mentioned all of them, especially "I could care less". I even heard that one on TV the other day!

I remember on an episode of Family Guy when Stewie became President he decreed that anyone caught saying irregardless would be executed. I laughed my ass off at that one.
 
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yhtang

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Can't agree.
Idiom has conferred the same meaning on "I could care less" as on "I couldn't care less."
The difference in structure is, as you say, minute ... but the "vast" difference in meaning does not exist.

I am not too sure I agree with this.

I feel there is a difference between "I couldn't care less" and "I could care less"

I interpret "I couldn't care less" in this way - I care very little about something, so little that it could not be any less than how little I feel about it now.

As for "I could care less," appears to me to mean I care about it, but I really should not care so much about it, I could put less care/attention/time on something.

As such, I would say there is a big difference between the two.
 

Notthe7

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This isn't really along the same lines... but I fucking HATE the phrase...

"It is what it is."

No FUCKING shit. What else would it be? Not what it is? OH okay. Got it.
 

Oliver_Clothesoff

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"Money is the root of all evil."

It's "The love of money is the root of all evil."

And I don't know if this counts but I REALLY hate it when people say things like:

"To get the answer you times two by eight."

No, you multiply two by eight.
 
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ConanTheBarber

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I am not too sure I agree with this.

I feel there is a difference between "I couldn't care less" and "I could care less"

I interpret "I couldn't care less" in this way - I care very little about something, so little that it could not be any less than how little I feel about it now.

As for "I could care less," appears to me to mean I care about it, but I really should not care so much about it, I could put less care/attention/time on something.

As such, I would say there is a big difference between the two.
The bolded words are logical, given the literal meaning of the words.
But this is an idiom. The usual meaning does not apply.
I think the two phrases are identical in meaning.

This website suggests that "To say that you could care less means you have a bit of caring left, which is not what the speakers seem to intend." That is, they mean to say that they couldn't care less.

Yhtang, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.
 

Mercurygirl

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"Money is the root of all evil."

It's "The love of money is the root of all evil."

Says you.

If indeed the original quote is, "The love of money is the root of all evil." that does not in itself dismiss altogether the abbreviated quote.

"Money is the root of all evil." That being currency. Be it the love of it or not, having a system in place that is rooted in accounting, gain, is, in itself, evil.

Although this quote may not be the original, it is, in fact, a truth, an idioms apart from the religious text and thus both expressions may be correct.
 
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