Things Americans Say Wrong
Yes, the title is intentional.
| a whole other… | Not “a whole ‘nother…” |
| abercrombie | Not “ambercrombie” |
| across | Not “acrost” or “acrossed” |
| addictive | Not “addicting” |
| all I did was… | Not “all’s I did was…” |
| alumni | This is often mistaken as the singular form of itself. The correct form is alumnus for singular masculine, alumna for singular feminine, alumnae for plural feminine, and alumni for masculine or generic plural. |
| Alzheimer’s disease (ALTS-heim-ers) | Not “old-timer’s disease” |
| Antarctica | Not “Antartica” |
| anticlimactic | Not “anticlimatic” |
| anyway | Not “anyways” |
| as best as you can | Not “as best you can” (pronoun may vary). Even more appropriate would be “as well as you can.” |
| as long as | Not “so long as” |
| as opposed to | Not “as oppose to.” This one is fairly subtle, since even in the correct pronunciation, the “d” is almost inaudible. However, many people do indeed consciously and audibly omit the “d.” |
| ask | Not “axe” |
| asterisk (AS-te-risk) | Not “asterix” (AS-te-riks). This error is made frequently by low-ranking office employees or people who are beginning to learn computer terminology. |
| beck and call | Not “beckon call” |
| better than the last | Sometimes, to express pleasure toward something, someone might incorrectly say, “every day is better than the next,” or “every bite is tastier than the next,” and so on. If you think about this carefully, you’ll realize that these are actually negative statements. When a person says, “every day is better than the next,” it is equivalent to saying, “every day is worse than the previous.” The person is essentially implying that every day since the beginning has been getting progressively worse. The correct phrase, therefore, should be, “every day is better than the last.” |
| boisterous | Not “voice-terous” |
| bystander | Not “by-standard” |
| calculate | Not “caculate.” |
| cavalry | Not “calvary.” Of course, if you’re referring to the place outside of Jerusalem, then you’re fine. |
| chipotle (chi-POT-lay) | Everyone seems to have their own pronunciation of this word. Most commonly, however, people mispronounce it by saying “chipolte” (chi-POL-tay), or “chipote” (chi-PO-tay), omitting the “l” altogether, or even “chipottle” (rhymes with “bottle”). The word itself has its origins in the Aztec language Nahuatl, where the “tl” sound was very common. It is derived from the words chil (chile), and pochilli (to smoke). |
| comeuppance | Not “comeuppins” |
| comfortable | Not “comfterble” |
| couldn’t care less | Not “could care less.” When you think about it, to say “I could care less” really means that you actually do care about something, and it’s possible for you to care less about it. It is more appropriate to say “I couldn’t care less” to indicate that you have reached the rock bottom of carelessness about something. |
| data | The word data is plural. Therefore it is inappropriate to use a phrase like “this data.” It is more appropriate to say “these data.” The singular form of the word is datum. |
| daylight saving time | Not “daylight savings time” |
| drivel | Not “dribble.” Dribble is what one does with a basketball. Drivel is childish or nonsensical language. |
| drowned | Not “drownded” |
| enormity | The word enormity refers to excessive evil or wickedness. It does not, however, refer to general excessive size. For that, the preferred term would be enormousness. |
| espresso | Not “expresso.” I mean, come on. |
| et cetera | Not “exetera.” Commonly abbreviated “etc.,” this is literally the Latin words et, meaning “and,” and cetera, meaning “the rest.” When spelled out, this is two words, not one. |
| exact revenge | Not “extract revenge.” |
| exclamation mark | Not “exclamation point.” Do you ever say “question point”? |
| fateful day | Not “faithful day” |
| February (FEB-roo-a-ry) | Not “Feb’uary” (FEB-yoo-a-ry). |
| founder | Not “flounder.” Founder is what a ship does when it collides with something and sinks in the water. Flounder is a type of fish. |
| for all intents and purposes | Not “for all intensive purposes” |
| hair’s breadth | Some believe that this metaphor is actually “hare’s breath.” |
| heart-rending | Not “heart-rendering” |
| height | Not “heighth” |
| hertz | This applies to the singular form of the word, which is still hertz. Some people mistakenly say, “1 hert.” |
| how many feet are in a mile? | Not “how many feet in a mile?” (Units may vary) |
| I’d just as soon… | Not “I’d just assume…” An example phrase might be, “I’d just as soon not go to the park today.” |
| I’m not sure | Not “I’m not for sure” |
| I’ve seen | Not “I seen” |
| in other words | Not “another words” |
| infinitesimal | Not “infintesimal” |
| instant messaging | Not “instant messenging” |
| integral | Not “intregal” |
| inverse square law | Not “invert square law” |
| jewelry | Not “jewlery” |
| kielbasa (kil-BA-sa) | For some reason, this is commonly mispronounced “kielbasi” (kil-BA-see) |
| lackadaisical | Not “laxadaisical” |
| laundromat | Not “laundrymat” |
| let it be | Not “leave it be” |
| library | Not “libery” |
| literature | Not “litature” |
| look at it | Not “look it” |
| mano a mano | In Spanish, this literally means “hand to hand.” However, many Americans incorrectly pronounce it as “mano y mano,” which would mean “hand and hand.” |
| mayonnaise | Not “man-aise” |
| memento | Not “momento” |
| menstruation | Not “menstration” |
| mischievous (MIS-chee-vus) | Not “mischievious” (mis-CHEE-vee-us). |
| moot point | Not “mute point” |
| myrrh | Not “myrth” |
| nauseated | Not “nauseous.” A reader contributes: “Too often I hear people who are sick to their stomach say “I am nauseous” rather than “I am nauseated.” Saying “I am nauseous” means that I cause OTHERS to feel sick to THEIR stomachs.” |
| nuclear (NEW-clee-ar) | Often disgustingly mispronounced as “nucular” (NOO-kyoo-lar). It’s most appalling that George W. Bush says “nucular” on quite a regular basis. It is well-known that the president’s grasp of English pronunciation is less than perfect, but doesn’t this fact also say something about his top advisors and speechwriters? Do they think it’s cute that he mispronounces it that way? Why can’t one of them spend a single day with the president and train him to say nuclear? At the very least, it would make him sound a bit less idiotic to educated Americans. |
| nunchucks | Not “numchucks.” A reader contributes: “Nunchaku is technically correct. However in English usage it is acceptable to use nunchucks, but not in Martial Arts usage or Japanese.” |
| off | Not “off of” (as in “get off of me”) |
| olfactory | Not “old factory” |
| on one hand… | Not “on the one hand…” |
| one and the same | Not “one in the same” |
| orangutan | Not “orangutang” |
| oriented | Not “orientated” |
| parenthesis | One of these “(” is a parenthesis (as opposed to parentheses, which is plural) |
| phenomenon | The word phenomena is plural. Therefore it is inappropriate to use phenomena when speaking of a single phenomenon. |
| picture | Not “pi’ture” or “pitcher” |
| pieces and parts | Not “pieces parts.” For some reason, this is catching on at an alarming rate. |
| powers that be | Not “powers to be” |
| prescription | Not “perscription” |
| pronunciation | Not “pronounciation” |
| realty/realtor | Not “real-a-ty” / “real-a-tor” |
| regardless | Not “irregardless” |
| relevant | Not “revelant” |
| repercussions | Not “reprocussions” |
| rhombus | Not “rhumbus” |
| sacrilegious | Not “sacreligious” |
| sharp | Not “shark.” A reader contributes: “When someone is good at shooting pool or playing cards, they are sharp. Therefore, they are a ‘pool sharp’ or a ‘card sharp.’ They are not sharks as in ‘pool sharks’ or ‘card sharks.’” |
| sherbet | Not “sherbert” |
| sidetracked | Not “sidetracted” |
| statute of limitations | Not “statue of limitations.” To quote Jerry Seinfeld, “Fine, it’s a sculpture of limitations!” |
| strength | Not “strenth” |
| supposedly | Not “supposably” |
| tact | Not “tack” |
| take for granted | Not “take for granite” |
| that’s not fair! | Not “that’s no fair” |
| triathlon | Not “triathalon.” Also applies to biathlon, tetrathlon, pentathlon, etc. Even the word athlete is sometimes mispronounced “ath-a-lete.” |
| utmost | Not “upmost” |
| verbiage | Not “verbage” |
| vertebra | The word vertebrae is plural and should not be used as the singular. |
| vice versa | Not “vice-a-versa.” |
| voluptuous | Not “volumptuous” |
| where are you? | Not “where are you at?” and certainly not “where you at?” |
| width | Not “wi’th” |
| would have | Not “would of” |
| wreak havoc | Not “wreck havoc” |
| yin/yang | Not “ying/yang” |
August 8th, 2005 at 12:46 am
Ummm no… Turpentine is perfectly acceptable. You’re really over-reaching here. Most of these are beyond annoying, but please don’t get ahead of yourself.
August 8th, 2005 at 7:23 am
“Turpentine” removed after verification. Both variations do indeed appear to be correct. Thanks!
September 13th, 2005 at 10:14 am
good website to listen to the pronunciation is http://www.m-w.com. According to the site one can debate about some words on the list (e.g. February, library and pronunciation).
September 28th, 2005 at 6:18 pm
ONE. Please add the following to your list: “realty / realtor” I hear these often mispronounced as “real-a-ty” and real-a-tor”, which adds in a middle syllable that should not be there.
TWO. I was wondering about the correct pronunciation of “nuclear”. I’ve always said “NEW-clee-ar” (3 syllables) rather than “NEW-clear” (2 syllables). What do you think?
THREE. Please add the word “boisterous” to your list. Many people say “voice-ter-ous”. Although a boisterous child may be loud, boisterous is also used to describe physical movement.
FOUR. I was so glad to see the correct pronunciation listed of the word “mischievous”. However, after a boy at the library where I work told me it was a vocabulary word in his class and the teacher pronounced it “mis-CHEE-vee-us”, I looked it up and was extremely dismayed to find that pronunciation is now listed in some new dictionaries as an acceptable alternative to “MIS-che-vus”. Do you find that if a word is pronounced incorrectly long enough and by enough people, it becomes formally acceptable? Personally, I hope not, but it seems this is happening. On this word, I don’t see how it could ever be accepted, as it does not coordinate with the spelling of the word, and turns a 3-syllable word into a 4-syllable word.
LOVE your list! Thanks, Melissa
September 28th, 2005 at 8:18 pm
Regarding “nuclear,” I do believe the truly correct pronunciation is “NEW-clee-ar” (like you say it), since it’s logically consistent with the noun “nucleus,” but to nitpick between that and “NEW-clear” may be a stretch.
That’s really surprising that an incorrect pronunciation was found in a dictionary. But, then, I guess that’s how a language evolves — by people mispronouncing words. How else would all the different languages have arisen?
I don’t know about you, but I would love for Esperanto to come back into vogue and finally put an end to ambiguity, mispronunciation, and silent letters!
October 1st, 2005 at 12:53 am
I’ve got one for you: I’ve always said “beck and call”. Turns out my husband, as well educated as I am, says “beckon call”. Sounds and literally means the same but which is correct? Of course I think I’m right! Would you let us know?
October 1st, 2005 at 1:03 am
OK I have one more. Sure sign of semi-literacy: “drownded” as opposed to “drowned”. Please add!
October 1st, 2005 at 1:08 am
OK, ONE more. (I fear this is an addiction). I’ve heard many people say “ath-a-lete” instead of “athlete”. “Triathlon” made me think of it.
October 1st, 2005 at 1:10 am
Must add one more. Cannot stop. Help me.
I actually work with people and have neighbors who constantly say “I seen” instead of “I saw” or “I’ve seen”.
October 1st, 2005 at 1:23 am
Regarding “what/when/why”: my mother was a very well-educated woman who grew up in upper-class Manhattan in the 20’s-40’s, daughter of a prominent MD, and always insisted that the “hwat/hwen/hwere” pronunciations are correct and proper, and a sign of educated people. In fact my 1936 Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary gives ONLY those pronunciations (spelled phonetically of course). So I NEVER associated the “hwat” pronunciation with hillbillies, etc., but quite the opposite! Personally though, I hated to pronounce those words that way, and have always wished that the more regularly-used “wat/were/wen” way was correct. I don’t have a modern dictionary - how are these words phoneticized (is that a word) currently? I imagine both ways are given as optional. Will have to remember to look these up tomorrow (I work at a library).
Thanks for putting up with me, I get wired on the computer at night! But I shall say goodnight now: Goodnight!
October 1st, 2005 at 5:02 pm
From Garner’s Modern American Usage (0-19-516191-2, Oxford University Press, Fall 2003):
October 8th, 2005 at 3:05 pm
Hi Dmitri! I’m a little embarrassed you’re posting all my comments on your site! Nevertheless, here’s another mispronunciation I often hear: “Treasure (and pleasure)” pronounced like “tray-zher / play-zher” rather than “treh-zher / pleh-zher”. Good day!
October 10th, 2005 at 7:51 pm
New suggestion: Thousands of times I have heard people pronounce “a” like “ay” instead of “uh” (I believe this happens mostly or only when people are reading something aloud). Example: “There once was ‘ay’ funny old man”, rather than “There once was ‘uh’ funny old man.”
I’m not sure how you’d word this for your list, but it bothers the HELL out of me when I hear it!!!
October 10th, 2005 at 7:54 pm
This may be regional (I’m in the L.A. area) but I hear a lot of people use incorrect grammar when asking a question such as “What time is it?” or “Where is this book?” They will say “What time it is?” or “Where this book is?”. Please list this as incorrect!!!
October 13th, 2005 at 3:45 pm
I’d sure like to see you add irregardless as one of the common words people use incorrectly in place of regardless. It makes me cringe every time I hear this mistake!
October 15th, 2005 at 6:46 pm
Ruin is a two-syllable word, but I hear it pronounced “roon” rather than “roo-in” quite frequently. Please add this to your list!
October 19th, 2005 at 8:34 am
Nice site, thank you.
Here’s a suggestion for something to add:
“Daylight saving time” more often than not gets a bonus plural and becomes “daylight savings time”. The first is correct, the latter is not.
October 31st, 2005 at 5:11 pm
Drives me insane to hear teachers and other normally reasonable people say “sim-u-lar” for similar!
November 3rd, 2005 at 10:37 pm
You say that “data” is plural. Why? Because it’s plural in Latin? By that line of reasoning we should say “These spaghetti are delicious” because “spaghetti” is plural in Italian.
November 10th, 2005 at 3:45 pm
It is my contention that the title of this commentary should be: “Words that Americans use (or say) incorrectly”.
November 10th, 2005 at 3:48 pm
I don’t think that those who say “guesstimate” really think that it means estimate but rather they are saying it as a kind of joke. Because estimating is a form of educated guessing, hence guesstimate.
November 10th, 2005 at 3:51 pm
I hear people use the word orientate for orient as in to orient yourself to a new way of thinking or toward another direction.
Please add this if I am correct that there is no word as orientate.
November 10th, 2005 at 3:53 pm
I used to hear people say conversate when they meant to say to have a conversation. If you want you may add that also.
November 10th, 2005 at 3:57 pm
There are people who say boff for both and recanize for recognize.
Some say drawring for drawing or warsh for wash. I have been known to take off the “g” on words like heating by saying heatin’.
Hey this is kind of fun!
November 11th, 2005 at 9:46 pm
Sean’s comment about “orientate” made me question myself but it is indeed in the dictionary, right where it should be! It means the same as to orient oneself. But I’ve never heard anyone say “conversate” instead of “converse”. That’s definitely incorrect! However the comment about “warsh” made me wonder if this pronunciation isn’t just from a regional dialect.
November 13th, 2005 at 12:57 am
Many people say af-a-ghan instead of afghan (a knitted blanket)
November 14th, 2005 at 6:16 pm
Melissa,
I am surprised and amused that orientate is a correct usage for orient. I will have to do some research on that one. Also, I was referrering to regional dialect types of mispronunciation when I submitted “warsh”. Partly because the list included “axed” for asked. And because I think that falls into the same category and leads to the type of poor usage that we find people quilty. Also, Americans are by no means the only offenders. The British, ironically, are well known for their mispronunciation of the so-called King’s English.
Thanks for your input.
November 17th, 2005 at 8:17 pm
Concerning “mischievous” I thought it was interesting what I read at the merriam-webster online dictionary
(www.m-w.com/dictionary/mischievous):
“usage: A pronunciation \mis-’chE-vE-&s\ and a consequent spelling mischievious are of long standing: evidence for the spelling goes back to the 16th century. Our pronunciation files contain modern attestations ranging from dialect speakers to Herbert Hoover. But both the pronunciation and the spelling are still considered nonstandard.”
November 25th, 2005 at 3:43 pm
“Lest we forget”, with “lest” pronounced “least”. Also “hot water heater”. It doesn’t heat HOT water.
December 1st, 2005 at 2:03 pm
Hi everyone! I learned a few years ago the difference between “healthy” and “healthful”, and the common misuse of the former. A person, plant or animal can be healthy, a food or diet can be healthful, but cannot be healthy (or unhealthy).
December 1st, 2005 at 2:27 pm
One of the most common errors in English have to do with the words “lie” and “lay”. My husband constantly drives me crazy when he tells me he’s going to “lay down”.
“Lay” is either the past tense of “lie” (I lie down today. I lay down yesterday) OR the present tense of the TRANSITIVE verb “lay”, which needs a direct object (I lay down my pencil today. I laid the pencil down yesterday.)
The common error is to use “lay” as a substitute for the present-tense verb “lie”, without a direct object. i.e. INCORRECT: I lay down today. I laid down yesterday. Or telling someone to “lay down”. CORRECT: I lie down today. I lay down yesterday. Or you can tell someone “Lie down.”
The following is correct info I just got from a grammar website:
The principal parts (most-common verb forms) of lie are:
lie (present), lay (past) and lain (past participle).
The princial parts of lay are:
lay (present), laid (past) and laid (past participle).
As an aid in choosing the correct verb forms, remember that lie means to recline, whereas lay means to put something down.
• Lie means that the actor (subject) is doing something to himself or herself. It’s what grammarians call a complete verb. When accompanied by subjects, complete verbs tell the whole story.
• Lay, on the other hand, means that the subject is acting on something or someone else; therefore, it requires a complement to make sense. Thus lay always takes a direct object. Lie never does.
——————————————————————————–
More on “lie”: In its simplest (command) form, when the you is implied, lie is a sentence all by itself. If you tell your dog, “Lie,” as in “(You) lie (down),” that’s a complete sentence. (The same is true, by the way, of sit.) In written material, we generally use down with lie when we mean to recline not because down is needed grammatically but because we wish to distinguish from the regular verb lie, meaning to tell an untruth (as in lie, lied, lied).
——————————————————————————–
Tip: Always remember that lay is a transitive verb and requires a direct object. (A transitive verb acts as a conveyor belt, transmitting action or influence from the subject to the object.) The common saying, “Let’s lay out in the sun,” is not only incorrect grammatically, it suggests a public promiscuity that’s frowned on even in this age of sexual permissiveness because you’re implying the existence of a direct object of lay: “Let’s lay (her/him?) out in the sun.” Not that there’s anything wrong with THAT! It’s just ungrammatical unless you’re talking about sex.
December 1st, 2005 at 2:28 pm
Similar to “lie” and “lay” is the errors in usage of “rise” and “raise”. Rise is a complete verb - you rise, the moon rises, etc. Raise is a transitive verb and needs a direct object - you raise your hand, the dog raises its ears, etc.
December 12th, 2005 at 11:07 am
When people say “I resemble that remark,” they’re typically making a joke about themselves, not using the word “resent” improperly. I think that came from some movie, but could begin to remember which one.
Thank for for including the clarification on “alumni;” my university’s alumni publication uses it incorrectly, which drives me crazy!
I am also seeking an answer on a related topic. I learned that “media” was the plural of “meduim” (a channel of communication), but I occasionally see “mediums” instead. I was taught that “mediums” was a bunch of fortunetellers. Make it stop?
December 12th, 2005 at 4:36 pm
I think the confusion in this is due to the difference between the words “saving” and “savings” themselves.
“Saving” is verb which describes a process.
“Savings” is a noun which describes something saved; a storage or supply of some sort.
The question is: During “Daylight Saving Time” are we actively saving daylight during the entire process, or have we stored a supply of daylight; a daylight savings?
Personally, I think that while “Daylight Saving Time” may be the term as it was defined, the term itself is grammatically questionable. I don’t think we are actively saving daylight during “Daylight Saving Time”, but that when we spring forward an hour we save an hour of daylight in an instant, and that that extra hour of daylight is actively saved, and could appropriately be described as our daylight savings for the duration of “Daylight Saving Time”. In the same respect “Daylight Saved Time” would even seem more grammatically appropriate to “Daylight Saving Time”, due to the fact that the daylight has already been saved, hence the past tence, rather than the active verb.
December 12th, 2005 at 4:46 pm
I’m not sure whether you’re saying they’re the same thing or not, so I’ll say that I don’t think they are.
An estimate is determined through real calculations where numbers are often rounded for expediency. It is not a guess, but it is not 100% accurate either. It is a mathematical approximation.
A “guesstimate” is an “educated guess”, but no real calculations are put into it. To make a “guesstimate” is to say “based on my (possibly limited) experience I would guess..”. This is more of a “gut feeling” than an actual estimate, which is a mathematical approximation.
It is my contention that they are NOT the same thing, and that “guesstimate” is NOT mispronunciation at all.
December 13th, 2005 at 1:26 am
“I resemble that remark” was a common quip used by Curly from The Three Stooges, in case you were curious.
And with medium, the only time “mediums” is appropriate is when referring to multiple fortune tellers, otherwise it’s media.
January 5th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
i debate that “6 of 1, half dozen of the other” makes any sense at all as it is. the phrase “six to one, half dozen the other” is used to indicate that 6 and a half dozen are the same quantities - so, to one person, it’s 6 - to the other, it’s a half dozen. yes?
January 7th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
Hi Dmitri! The other day I heard a commentator on TV say “wreck havoc”, but the correct phrase is “wreak havoc”. Please add to your list. Thanks!
January 15th, 2006 at 3:25 pm
Love it.. and there are so many more! Like the use of the prefix “in” to mean extra or better or super…i.e., INvaluable…the IN prefix is meant to indicate “a lack” or “not” such as INconclusive…this means NOT conclusive and INvaluable really means NOT valuable…
don’t get me started!
January 15th, 2006 at 3:37 pm
Oh and…Alchol-ic beverage…that would be a beverage (no matter the content) being owned or consumed by a person who has an addiction to alcohol…NOT a beverage containing alcohol. Alcohol LIKE beverage..maybe, Alcohol beverage..yes. Bear in mind that dictionaries frequently update to include bastardizations (is THAT a word?) of meanings not so much as an authority on how language is assembled but more on the current meaning of the word as used coloquially.
January 15th, 2006 at 3:39 pm
pardon the SP…”Alcohol-ic
January 30th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
An educated guess is a ‘hypothesis’. I also believe that “guestimate” is slang for loose estimate, not a misspeak.
January 30th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
English class is now called “Language Arts” in elementary school. If it is now “art”, maybe there are no longer any rules.
January 31st, 2006 at 3:09 pm
Please add i.e. and e.g. to your list. They are not necessarily pronounced incorrectly; rather they are too often used in place of each other or are not abbreviated properly (ie., eg.). If people knew the Latin translation, most improper usage would be avoided:
e.g. is abbreviation for “exempli gratia” and means “for example”
i.e. is the abbreviation “id est” and means “that is”
January 31st, 2006 at 7:52 pm
I told you /not I toed you.
appreciate/not preciate
February 5th, 2006 at 2:20 am
Ehh, if I ever said “datum” at work, I would get socked in the face and promptly fired.
February 6th, 2006 at 11:23 am
it’s not that invaluable claimes a lacking in value, but that a value can not be placed/determined.
February 25th, 2006 at 3:45 pm
This one drives me INSANE! Please add “founder” to the list. I HATE when people say “flounder”, e.g. “he was floundering”. A ship at sea does not “flounder” - it FOUNDERS!
Thank you.
February 25th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
Please add >> Heart-Rendering!
I was going to mention “take for granite” also, but I see you have it on your list. Someone I know well says that, as well as “heart-rendering”. I have heard the latter on television quite often.
Pedantic addition >> Enormity
I was taught that “enormity” was not the state of being extremely big, but instead something big and bad, an outrage or horror of massive proportion. But no one seems to follow this distinction anymore.
February 28th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
Another word that people mispronounce is comparable.
They say Compare-able instead.
March 1st, 2006 at 6:45 pm
>>> “…piqued his interest…” not “peaked” or “peeked” (easy to find both examples). A Google search returns the following statistics (roughly 10% error rate):
23800 results for “it piqued his interest”
925 for “it peaked his interest”
1080 for “it peeked his interest”
By the way, another exhaustive list of these things, with many of the same examples, can be found here.
March 2nd, 2006 at 10:55 pm
DB, the spam-robots have found you. I think you need to put a good robots.txt in your root directory.
March 18th, 2006 at 8:47 pm
Please add pseudonym vs. pseudo name
March 30th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
The last book of the New Testamant is called “Revelation.” This book is not plural. The letter S appears nowhere.
Just for the record, “Relevation” means “to lift up,” it has nothing to do with the last book of the bible.
March 30th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
You can not graduate from school, you can only be graduated. To say, “I graduated from college,” is improper. You can graduate someone from college, or you can be graduated, but you cannot simply graduate.
No, actually it could work to say, “I graduated from college.” What it would mean however, is that at one point you used to graduate people, and the place where you graduated them from was a college.
April 3rd, 2006 at 5:43 pm
Ah, “graduated” vs “was graduated”. WWSS? (What Would Safire Say?) Not sure whether he would be so pedantic. I can’t find a Safire citation on the web, but American Heritage has this to say (which luckily I agree with): The verb graduate has denoted the action of conferring an academic degree or diploma since at least 1421. Accordingly, the action of receiving a degree should be expressed in the passive, as in She was graduated from Yale in 1998. This use is still current, if old-fashioned, and is acceptable to 78 percent of the Usage Panel. In general usage, however, it has largely yielded to the much more recent active pattern (first attested in 1807): She graduated from Yale in 1998. Eighty-nine percent of the Panel accepts this use. It has the advantage of ascribing the accomplishment to the student, rather than to the institution, which is usually appropriate in discussions of individual students. When the institution’s responsibility is emphasized, however, the older pattern may still be recommended.Personally I think only cylinders should be graduated.
April 15th, 2006 at 8:57 am
Here in Michigan a popular thing to say is puh-tay-doh instead of potato, tuh-may-doh instead of tomato, da-morrow instead of tomorrow, etc. Perhaps this phenomenon is nation-wide. People seem to replace the Ts with Ds. God help us all.
April 19th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
Please, add ‘jibe’ as in, “This does not jibe with that.” Everybody pronounces it “jive” as in, Jive Talkin’ by the Bee Gees.
April 21st, 2006 at 9:00 am
When some one is good at shooting pool or playing cards, they are sharp. Therefore, they are a “pool sharps” or a “card sharps”. They are not sharks as in “pool sharks” or “card sharks”.
May 10th, 2006 at 9:05 pm
When I am swimming in the ocean off the coast of Florida, and my leg is bitten by a grey aquatic animal, it is because its teeth are SHARP, not SHARK. Grrr.
June 9th, 2006 at 3:20 pm
Just discovered this wonderful list. My propsed addition is nauseated/ nauseous. Too often I hear people who are sick to their stomache say “I am nauseous” rather than “I am nauseated.” Saying “I am nauseous” means that I cause OTHERS to feel sick to THEIR stomaches.
June 19th, 2006 at 3:27 am
nunchucks Not “numchucks”
Nunchucks is incorrect as well.
Nunchaku is technically correct.
However in English usage it is acceptable to use nunchucks, but not in Martial Arts usage or Japanese.
June 26th, 2006 at 10:21 am
What is the proper pronunciation of BUFFET?
Also, pronunciation of PROMISCUITY?
I would like to be able to LISTEN to the pronunciations.
Thanks!!
Irma F.\
July 12th, 2006 at 2:53 pm
I’d like to suggest renaming this to ” Things Backwoods Southerns Say Wrong” - Up north we have our own bastardization of the language and we don’t want it confused with the hack job that the Southerns have done. The who/what/why thing I’d like to debate because the dictionary.com pronounciations match what I learned - hwo hwat hwy. The same with toward being a monosyllabic word.
Oh, and THANK YOU for this list! I did learn a few things from the list, such as the card/pool sharks thing.
July 12th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
SouthernERs, rather
Things Backwoods SouthernERs Would Say
July 28th, 2006 at 11:39 am
Hi Dmitri! Haven’t checked out your list in a while, but I’m glad to see all the new entries.
Here’s oneyou absolutely must add:
PREROGATIVE - NOT “PEROGATIVE”
I hear even educated people - and speakers on TV & radio - get this one wrong all the time! It may be due to laziness of the mouth as it is indeed easier to say, like Feb-you-ary instead of Feb-roo-ary, BUT it’s incorrect nonetheless!
July 28th, 2006 at 11:58 am
Well I hate to say it but my Webster’s New World College Dictionary says the word ROOF has the alternate correct pronunciation with the oo sound like the oo sound in “book”. I grew up believing the only correct pronunciation was with the oo sound like that in “boot”. Times change.
So maybe that entry needs to be deleted off your list!
July 28th, 2006 at 12:04 pm
OK Dmitry! You have GOT to delete the entry about the “what/when/where/why” pronunciation. Both my dictionary and my educated and cultured mother (from New York - NOT a hillbilly!) says the “hwat/hwen/hwere/hwy” pronunciation is actually the MOST correct, with the pronunciation leaving the H sound off the beginning is the second alternative corerct pronunciation.
September 3rd, 2006 at 6:57 am
I second that. The /hw/ pronunciation is actually older. It may be falling out of fashion but it’s not wrong.
As for “drawring”. This is how I pronounce the word. All it is is a linking r, quite common in non-rhotic dialects. Of course, we’re talking about things Americans say wrong and I’m Australian but non-rhotic accents do exist in the US.
And then to “healthful”. There’s no such word in my dialect but again I’m not American and that word is.
“Guesstimate” is legit. http://www.dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=34849&dict=CALD http://www.bartleby.com/61/17/G0301700.html
“Old-timer’s disease” may sometimes be said tongue-in-cheek.
The American Heritage Dictionary (AHD) lists the pronunciation of month’s name as if it were spelt “Febyuary”. http://www.bartleby.com/61/42/F0064200.html
Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary lists one meaning of “shark” as “a dishonest person, especially one who persuades other people to pay too much money for something”. http://www.dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=72533&dict=CALD AHD concurs: “2a. A person regarded as ruthless, greedy, or dishonest. b. A vicious usurer.” and even adds “3. Slang A person unusually skilled in a particular activity: a card shark.” http://www.bartleby.com/61/2/S0320200.html
“Hertz” is not capitalised (except at the begining of the sentence or if you’re using all caps). Odd though this may seem, it’s the official word on the matter.
Of course, one could trundle out the old prescriptivist vs descriptivist debate but that a hwole nother story.
October 24th, 2006 at 11:06 am
Are you sure about “vice versa”? I’ve seen the “vysa versa” listed first in a couple of dictionaries.
Here’s a good one: “sub pump” instead of “sump pump”.
December 5th, 2006 at 4:03 pm
Thanks for posting Yin and Yang. It’s frustrating to have people try to explain to me what the symbol Yin and Yang represents but refer to it at Ying and Yang. It just proves they don’t actually know anything about it. High Five.
January 2nd, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Interesting note: Schoolhouse Rock has a whole thing about interjections, and they ALWAYS say “exclamation point” not “exclamation mark”. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard anything different than “exclamation point” myself in K-12 school, college, or otherwise. That’s so interesting!
January 4th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
How about the recent trend of adding ‘-ness’ to adjectives in order to make them nouns (AGGRESSIVENESS instead of AGGRESSION)?
Or DRAWL and SAWL instead of DRAW and SAW.
January 12th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Reverse Discrimination….AAAAAANT!
Didcrimination is discrimination no matter who it is against!
Reverse discrimination might be …. CRIMINATION! LOL!
January 12th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
OOPS! Is oops a word? Sorry about the spelling in the last post!
January 12th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
I hear so many people call the name Crystal or Chrystal, CRYS-CHUL
January 24th, 2007 at 11:22 am
in the great scheme of things who really cares? there are more pressing issues in life.
January 31st, 2007 at 11:28 pm
Bob, you are right on the money.
Who gives a rip if we say “I’ve already THREW it away” or “I don’t have no more of them things”.
Maybe we shouldn’t spend so much on ejukashun if we ain’t gonna lurn nuthin.
Yure kool!
February 25th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
To John:
How typical of a northerner to say something like that.
March 3rd, 2007 at 9:31 pm
How about redundancies when using acronyms? “The ATM machine is asking for my PIN number.”
Cheers!
March 5th, 2007 at 1:48 am
Here’s another that bugs the crap out of me: “The floor needs swept” instead of “The floor needs sweeping,” or “The floor needs to be swept.”
March 24th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
I am quite the edyumuhcated hillbilly and love the beauty of my family’s regional dialect. Besides, there is no such thing as standard spoken English. There is only standard written English.
April 2nd, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Dmitry,
If you are truly interested in pointing out the flaws of others, you really should make sure that they are actually flaws in the first place.
– Exclamation point, for example, is technically correct. It is listed in the Oxford English Dictionary under “Point” and is defined as:
‘16. A dot or other small mark used in writing.
a. A full stop (in full full point); (hence) any terminal punctuation mark, as an exclamation mark or question mark.’
Example of usage given: 1795 L. MURRAY Eng. Gram. 169 The Interrogative point, ? The Exclamation point, !.
– “As best you can.” This phrase is listed in the Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms as being correct.
– “How many feet in a mile?” is another phrase you have listed as being incorrect. While it may be incorrect on its own, when coupled with a preceeding question, it becomes acceptible usage.
Example: How many feet are in a yard? And how many feet in a mile?
I would also like to reiterate what others have said regarding your complaints about “what, when, why.” Again, the Oxford English Dictionary lists hwat, hwen, hwai as the correct pronunciations.
While your attempts at pointing out mispronuncations and incorrect usage of terms is valiant, I would suggest that you do better research into these matters before jumping to conclusions, and confusing people who are naive enough to take you at your word.
That being said, one of the mispronunciations that has bothered me the most is when people are trying to say “reagent” but end up saying “reegent” instead. Another is that people pronounce “hearth” as “hurth.”
– Tess
July 5th, 2007 at 5:26 am
Can you add route - pronounced as rout
Route should be said ‘root’ rout as ‘R ow t’
Route is how to get somewhere rout is an unorganised retreat from battle
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:53 pm
I find it a bit odd that you single out Americans for incorrectly using “leave it be” where “let it be” ought to prevail. After all, most major American dictionaries and guides (the Columbia Guide, American Heritage, Random House, just to name a few) reject this construction. By contrast, British dictionaries such as Oxford, Longman, and Cambridge all list it without censure. Moreover, in the updated Fowler’s Guide to Modern English Usage, Burchfield calls the two constructions interchangeable.
August 29th, 2007 at 4:18 am
You need to add “I got it for cheap” and “they have them down at best buy for cheap!”
etc etc - it kills me.
Oh here’s an awesome one for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mppc4ReOMw
sodder, instead of solder ARGH
September 10th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Great list. I am confused by spoonsful vs. spoonfuls. Which is it? MS word reckons spoonfuls, but it doesn’t sound right to me since it’s not the “ful” that is plural but the spoon.
September 12th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
I pretty much agree with all of these, except “data”. To me “data” is like “sand”. It’s singular in the collective sense, even though there’s not just one datum OR one grain of sand. You wouldn’t say “the sand are tan”, you wouldn’t say “the data are correct”, which sounds very odd. True, datum is one single piece of data, but in the case of the word “data”, it’s still a collective noun, like “rice” or “sand”.
I love the list as a whole though. Especially “fo-ward” (instead of saying “forward”), which I hear all the time and it drives me nuts!
October 17th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Great list! As an architect you left out two of my worst pet peeves; “chimley” place of “chimney” (sorry granddad) and “masonary” instead of “masonry”. Of course the people who mispronounce these the most are usually the ones on the job site doing the work. I’ve also never gotten a satisfactory explanation for why we call it “aluminum” and the British call it “aluminium”.
October 17th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
The words that are mispronounced the most by Americans that bother me are ’second’, which comes out as ’secont’.'Antarctica’ which I have heard too many times pronounced ‘Anartica’ and ‘Wimbledon’ referred to ‘Wimpleton’. It’s not that hard, honestly.
October 17th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
What about Gyro? I’ve hardly ever met an American who could pronounce the Greek sandwich.
October 18th, 2007 at 1:24 am
To add to Tess’ point re “as best you can”: the word ‘best’ is a superlative, and in this phrase it’s being used as a comparative, whether the second ‘as’ is there or not. That ain’t right. Most correctly, the phrase should be “as well as you can”.
October 18th, 2007 at 9:17 am
One thing that I’ve recently started hearing (mostly by weathermen and business news talking heads) that drives me nuts when I hear it is “Meantime” without “in the” preceding it.
“The Dow fell for a second straight day on news that…… Meantime, Apple announced that it was…..”.
Just freaking say “Meanwhile”, would ya?
October 18th, 2007 at 9:57 am
I’ve updated the list a little bit, based on comments from a recent influx of visitors. Specifically, I removed some items that appear to be merely regional pronunciations, and don’t constitute a grammatical error.
Don’t hesitate to add more comments!
October 18th, 2007 at 10:16 am
As a DC in the midwest, my pet peeve is when people refer to me as a “Choirpractor” instead of as a Chiropractor.
October 18th, 2007 at 10:54 am
Re. “…if a word is pronounced incorrectly long enough and by enough people, it becomes formally acceptable?”
I personally hope not too, but this is what’s happening. How many of you know that, whenever you have a meal at an Italian restaurant, you are insistently mispronouncing “bruschetta”? (should be “bruskétta” with a k, a closed e sound and 2 T’s as opposed to the dominating “brushèta”, sh sound, open e sound and one T). However, do as much as point that out, and the answer is usually “whatever”. OK, I pointed out a foreign word as an example (but there are others in the above list), but sure enough, the answer would not change if the mispronounced term were an English word.
October 18th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Also, I don’t know if this is officially incorrect, but I often hear creek pronounced “crik”. Speaking of something you can find in a creek, is crawfish or crayfish the correct word?
October 18th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
I also forgot to bring up the word “news”, which sometimes I hear pronounced as “nyooz” instead of “nooz”. I don’t know if that’s incorrect, but it just sounds weird.
October 19th, 2007 at 8:37 am
Language can evolve and after reading this list, I don’t think that the author understands that one bit.
October 19th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Buck naked vs “butt naked” Should be “buck naked.” This started as a reference by European explorers and colonists to the largely undressed state of native peoples in Africa and the Americas. These warriors were called “bucks” as a sort of nonhuman/animal reference.
Asterisk vs “asterick” — I hear ‘asterick’ more and more these days.
Couldn’t care less vs “could care less” — I probably hear ‘could care less’ more often. I never understood the logic of it, but I think these speakers interpret it as a threat–‘watch out–I could care even less than I already do.’
RE data/datum — I don’t care what the rule is, I say and write data for both singular and plural. If I were writing in Latin, I’d conform to Latin rules.
Escape vs “excape”
Exclamation point — This is the term that was in my grade school English grammar texts.
Kielbasa — “kielbasi” is the plural in Polish, just as spaghetti and macaroni are Italian plurals. Saying “kielbasas” as a plural would sound as wrong to a Pole as ‘datum’ does to me.
Mano a mano — I run across this mistranslated as meaning “man-to-man” instead of hand-to-hand.
Verbiage — As a tech writer, it’s insulting to hear people reference your text as ‘verbiage,’ which means an excess of words, not a generic reference to a block of text.
Accessory vs “assessory” The double c is a k sound, just like in accelerate or access.
October 19th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
I’m glad this is just a “what Americans say wrong” article. If it was “what the British say wrong” then bandwidth constraints would have to be considered.
Nevertheless, “American” is too generalized for speech differences. Even Americans are amused at mere differences State to State. Canada (spelled C-eh-N-eh-D-eh) has its regional differences as well.
Heck Washington State alone could fill a web page (I mean “Warshington”).
Nevertheless, with the proliferation of Hip-hop in the modern adolescent culture, it is now “cool” to act and talk like a complete idiot. Many of these improper uses and pronunciations came from the ghettos (yes, some are southern as well). It doesn’t take a genius to make the true, but politically incorrect connection.
October 19th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
HAHAHA fuckin dumb americans
October 21st, 2007 at 4:59 pm
These may just be regional.
battry instead of battery
winder instead of window
warsh instead of wash
October 31st, 2007 at 7:53 am
“Dood: Speaking of something you can find in a creek, is crawfish or crayfish the correct word?”
I have always heard that it is CRAYfish and CRAWdad….not crawfish at all.
November 9th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
How about when people (referring to arithmetic) say “Times it by two” as opposed to “MULTIPLY by two”!!! AAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
November 10th, 2007 at 1:46 am
Hi Dmitri! I was just checking out if “firstly, secondly, etc” is at all correct usage, and it seems “the jury is still out”. Most websites will tell you “first, second, etc” it more correct, but that whichever you use, it should be consistent throughtou how ever many points are being made. BUT wouldn’t it sound ridiculous to say “Ninethly, or Fourteenthly” ?
November 17th, 2007 at 9:12 am
Hi, lots of the times I say poo when I mean poop
November 17th, 2007 at 9:15 am
You did not need to go there Steve lyle. Poo and poop are from the Middle English poupen, to blao a horn, toot, of imitative origin.
November 17th, 2007 at 9:17 am
blow not blao -
November 29th, 2007 at 11:45 am
haha! Most of these are great. About 3 of them I realized I used myself. However, some of them are limited to black people. Oh and Would of lol that one is funny. We actually say Would’ve.
November 29th, 2007 at 11:48 am
Ooo I almost forgot!
Frustrated, not FUSTRADED
I correct this in peoples grammer all the time!
December 10th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
Valentines Day… Not Valentimes day
December 13th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
route is pronounced root not rowt
December 17th, 2007 at 10:49 am
Excellent list! Lots of fun, even a nod to the 3 Stooges. This comment is more on a misuse in written communication, and everyone who appreciates this probably gets just as much a “nails on the blackboard” sensation from it:
Your vs. You’re! as in the hatchet job “Your gonna have to edit you’re list.” What possessed by you is going to have to edit you are list??? AHHHHHH! Running across the town square with my hair on fire, screaming! Catching up with the 3 stooges and we all run through a wall. OK, I feel much better now.
December 18th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
I think that to list all the words that americans cannot say properly would be impossible because there are so very very many. Perhaps americans brains are just smaller than that of an average small child or some of the more cunning rodent. Sparky, how could the British possibly pronounce things incorrectly, it is the English language that americans speak, not vice versa, so it is really rather ridiculous to suggest anything to the contrary
December 22nd, 2007 at 10:26 am
Great article! And I have another one for your list: the word “mirror” is commonly pronounced “meer” these days. People frequently drop the second syllable.
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:50 pm
I think you guys are fighting an uphill battle here. It’s all about colloquials, and you will find that if you are trying to confine language to strict rules, you will lose.
That being said, one thing that ticks me off to NO extent is when people use the expression. “This begs the question” meaning “which makes us wonder”, as opposed to the fallacy “begging the question”.
Again, in a couple of years, “begging the question” might very well be defined as “making one wonder” as an alternative meaning.
By the way, you should take a peek at things the ENGLISH say wrong.
Language purists will always lose. Sadly.
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:52 pm
oh yeah, and:
Driver License NOT Driver’s License.
Daylight Saving Time NOT Daylight Savings Time.
ARRRRggggh
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:57 pm
another one, ha ha.
“RSVP Please” JESUS CHRIST PEOPLE, RSVP means “Respond, Please”. You don’t need another please, jackasses!
which brings us into “The la brea tar pits” = “The the tar tar pits”. that’s a different area of complaints though
January 10th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Regarding “on THE one hand,” Longman, Cambridge, and the OED all list it as the primary or only form of the idiom, whereas American sources like Webster’s and Random House list it as merely a variant. So it would appear that British usage commonly employs the construction than American usage does (from my point of view, both forms seem fine). Do you always assume that the supposed errors you identify are characteristic of American speech only?
January 18th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Missing from your list is the yanks’ annoying use of the word “gotten”, as in the comment from Mark S. above (”I’ve also never gotten a satisfactory explanation…”). The correct word is “had”.
January 25th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
As a Yank who uses “gotten” with perverse delight, I will try to explain the clear sense distinction that we feel the word gives us. When we say “have got,” we are simply using an emphatic form of “have” to mean obligation or possession. Thus “I’ve got to go” means “I have to (must) go,” and “I’ve got a small house” means “I have (possess) a small house.” By contrast, “gotten” is used as a past participle of “get” in the senses “become,” “received,” “obtained,” etc. Thus “I’ve gotten sick twice this year” means “I’ve *become* sick twice this year,” and “I had just gotten my new house when the roof collapsed” means “I had just *obtained* my new house….”
If it’s still not clear, here is a classic example of the distinction:
“I haven’t got any money” means you’re broke.
“I haven’t gotten any money” means that you haven’t been paid.
February 18th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
I find this article to be highly offensive. You lump all Americans together as though we are all uneducated fools. I beg to differ. The lack of grammatical awareness of many Americans, while quite annoying to me personally, is equally evident in most modern societies. If you took the time to look more closely, you would find that your remarks are a result of your own prejudice, and are extremely unethical. I found your website while researching tessellations with my 12 year old daughter for a school project. I am glad that I saw your remarks before she did. I do not teach my children to speak that way about others, and I would hope that you would teach yours the same. If such is the case, then maybe you should practice what you preach. It would be more effective to simply politely correct people (American or otherwise) when their grammar is incorrect than to post slanderous and offensive articles such as this.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:10 am
I wouldnt worry about your daughter coming accross this, as an American child im sure she cannot read. You sound like you’d be great fun at a party, lighten up and keep smiling ; )
March 20th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Hello! I see the website look has changed a bit - very nice, except I can barely see the borders of this box!
I wanted to ask you to add another item to your list of “Things American s Say Wrong”:
ALMOST - Not “most”.
Correct use of “most”: This elixir will cure most ailments.
Incorrect use of “most”: This elixir will cure most any ailment. - or - Most anyone will find this elixir worth the price.
March 26th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
My pet peeve is the current rage for saying “14 troops were killed today”. A troop is a group of soldiers, not an individual member of the armed forces. How hard is it to say ’soldiers’ (or ’servicepersons’ if you’re not sure they were all soldiers.
April 20th, 2008 at 12:10 am
It is VERY common for people to say “The reason is because”, such as “The reason I was late is because there was a traffic jam”, but it is redundant and incorrect. One should say either “The reason I was late is that there was a traffic jam” or “I was late because there was a traffic jam”.
May 6th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
#83(Tess)
From what I am lead to believe is that when talking about a home(noun)
“hearth” is pronounced ‘harrth’, but the act(verb) is pronounced ‘hurth’.
Correct me if I am wrong. There has been a lot of discussion about this.
I had alwaays called it ‘harrth’ as an action as well as a home and was
told there is a difference.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Jeff- Hearth is “harth” no matter if you are hearthing to your hearth. Although, it is okay to say “herth” if you are reverting to middle english. However, if you are playing World of Warcraft either way is totally acceptable. Hope that helps:-)
May 21st, 2008 at 3:44 pm
With regard to “Couldn’t/could care less” I’ve used the two as seperate, but related phrases for as long as I can recall. I’d always assumed those around me did so as well, but in light of the obvious confusion this seems to be causing I suppose it may be that they have only been used in such a way that the difference wasn’t obvious.
I use both quite literally, as statements of fact. “Couldn’t care less” indictes just that… any interest I have in the subject is, in fact, the lowest it could possibly be. “Could care less” indicates a mild level of (non-zero) interest, while the fact that I am overtly stating that I could care less indicates that one might reasonably suppose I don’t care at all.
I second the rice-data comparison, incidentally. I would have posted it myself, but was beaten to the punch. There’s a long and respected tradition of comparing to aggregates as singular, and it’s so seldom required that one refer to a single member of a mass of data that it’s understandable that the few instances where it is required are not often understood.
My pet peeve? People who refer to “grammatical errors” and proceed to recite a list composed primarily of phonological or phonetic errors, or, still worse, simple gaps in vocabulary.
July 1st, 2008 at 6:55 pm
In your claim that “on one hand” is the correct idiom and that “on *the* other hand” is incorrect, it seems that once again you’ve applied your own logic without looking at any examples of actual usage. To start with, when the expression “on the one hand” was first recorded in the 17th century, it didn’t refer to just any old hand; rather, it referred to a person’s RIGHT HAND, which at the time was the hand that all people should were taught and/or forced to favor. By contrast, “the other hand” referred to a person’s left hand. In other words, since “one hand” meant a specific hand rather than just either of two, it is entirely correct for it to be preceded by the definite article “the.”
Second, the supposedly faulty usage that you censure is actually more characteristic of British English than it is something that “Americans say wrong.” In fact, if you look in American Heritage or Webster’s, the idiom is shown both with and without the “the.” Oxford, on the other hand :-), lists only the “the” form. Longman–that most British of publishers–even goes so far as to add a usage note for English learners that warns, “Do not say ‘on one hand.’” So perhaps a more fitting title to your page would be “Things that Dmitry Brant Thinks Americans Say Wrong.”
August 11th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
effect/affect
August 11th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
a descending escalator isn’t really and escalator is it