Last Updated on December 5, 2021
Mrs. B, the grammar enthusiast over at the TV industry website Newsblues, (subscription required) recently posted an article about little phrases that sometimes go awry when people try to use them after hearing someone else use them first.
Here are just ten of the more interesting ones, with the butchered version first and the corrected version second. Would any of these trap you?
- baited breath, instead of bated breath
- died in the wool, instead of dyed in the wool
- for all intensive purposes, instead of for all intents and purposes
- he’s just a gopher, instead of he’s just a go-fer
- hone in on, instead of home in on
- poured over a document, instead of pored over a document
- shoe-in to win, instead of shoo-in to win
- the dye is cast, instead of the die is cast
- tow the line, instead of toe the line
- wet my appetite, instead of whet my appetite
The one of these I see most often is “for all intensive purposes.” It ranks right up there with “sufficive to say” instead of “suffice it to say.” Sufficive isn’t even a word.
Not that it’s ever stopped anyone before….
It’s just my opinion, but if it had stopped people, it is very likely that the English language would not be nearly as screwed up as it is; nor would it be as fun.
Â
‘baited breath’ Yes I know it’s not proper but it is a good pun, and if the English language one thing its good for a pun or two million.
Â
In what other language can you put a river of styx on a fire and have it burn all the brighter?
Well, thanks for the “suffice it to say” remark :).
That comment scratched an itch for me (a rather large one, actually). Although I usually take pride in my linguistic competency, this is one fine example of the details of the English language hiding away in a dark corner.
I could (but won’t) argue that “sufficive” would be an adjective form of “suffice” (that is, something is sufficive when it suffices), and this is precisely where I lost track of that fine detail. The correct word for the adjective “to suffice” is “sufficient”, just to make sure you know I’m not completely lost. 🙂
There are a few of these that would have thrown me a curve. Still there are quite a few I would not have guessed until I saw someone use the inappropriately. I have to say when I do see that, it completely throws me off the point and I’ve lost whatever point the writer is trying to make. Ah, the English language.
Jude
I’ve surely been seeing a lot of “pouring over” documents lately, in newspapers…and BOOKS. Where are the editors (of books, not newspapers)??
“Sufficive to say” makes me laugh.