this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2025
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Please state in which country your phrase tends to be used, what the phrase is, and what it should be.

Example:

In America, recently came across "back-petal", instead of back-pedal. Also, still hearing "for all intensive purposes" instead of "for all intents and purposes".

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[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

I'm still confused that reckless driving causes wrecks.

[–] sik0fewl@lemmy.ca 4 points 19 hours ago (3 children)

This is a good one.

This is what is called a lonely negative. It's where we only have the negative version of a word. This could be because the original word fell out of use or we stole the negative word from another language without stealing the positive.

"Reck" meant something like "care" - it has nothing to do with "wreck".

Another good example is "disgust," which we got from French. Anyone familiar with French, Italian or Spanish will probably recognize the verb "gustar" (or something similar).

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[–] cokeslutgarbage@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Idk if this counts as a phrase, but on the internet, people talk about their pets crossing the rainbow bridge when they die. That's not how the rainbow bridge poem goes. Pets go to a magnificent field when they die. They are healed of all injury and illness. When you die, they find you in the field and you cross the bridge together. It's much sweeter the way it was written than the way people use it.

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[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (5 children)

On the US one thing is different from another, not than. One thing differs from another. It's different from the other thing.

Although in the UK it's "different to" for some reason.

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[–] tatterdemalion@programming.dev 5 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (6 children)

You don't feel "nauseous" you feel "nauseated".

EDIT: TIL "nauseous" can be used in place of "nauseated". This usage has been common since the 20th century.

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[–] Telodzrum@lemmy.world 6 points 23 hours ago (9 children)

“Saying the quiet part out loud.”

Saying things out loud is how you say them.

It’s “saying the quiet part loud.”

[–] theherk@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

I think it is common to distinguish between whispering something and saying it out loud or aloud. Like if you say something private in a theatre louder than meant, your date might say, “Shh, you said that out loud.” Otherwise “out loud” would have no place at all as “say” alone would cover this meaning.

You’re right about the saying, but I think that explains the malapropism.

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[–] bitchkat@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (3 children)

It's always going to be the "of" people. Its "would have", "should have" etc and not "would of".

[–] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 21 hours ago (1 children)
[–] bitchkat@lemmy.world 0 points 11 hours ago

No. Just use your words and enunciate.

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[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

About 1 in 3 posters here say “loose” when they mean “lose”

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[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

breaked vs broke

Respect the irregular verbs

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[–] LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What entitlement means vs false sense of entitlement.

I tell people they are entitled to their rights and have an entitlement to their social security money for example, and they get offended thinking I mean "false sense of entitlement" instead.

I hear "gaslighting" misused all of the time. It doesn't mean trying to persuade someone or just lying.

[–] frezik@midwest.social 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Online in general: using "reductio ad absurdum" as a fallacy.

It's a longstanding logical tool. Here's an example of how it works: let's assume you can use infinity as a number. In that case, we can do:

∞ + 1 = ∞

And:

∞ - ∞ = 0

Agreed? If so, then:

∞ - ∞ + 1 = ∞ - ∞

And therefore:

1 = 0

Which is absurd. If we agree that all the logical steps to get there are correct, then the original premise (that we can use infinity as a number) must be wrong.

It's a great tool for teasing out incorrect assumptions. It has never been on any academic list of fallacies, and the Internet needs to stop saying otherwise. It's possible some other fallacy is being invoked while going through an argument, but it's not reductio ad absurdum.

[–] Classy@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Well if we're going to be talking about logical fallacies, I feel like the string of arguments that you made there is a category error. Infinity isn't exactly a number, it's more of a philosophical concept than anything else. I would argue that trying to subtract Infinity from Infinity is illogical and kind of silly, but it wouldn't be a reductio ad absurdum as you put it, but instead a category error.

An absurdist argument might be more like, if I have one cat I can trade it for one dog. Therefore infinite cats can be traded for infinite dogs. This is obviously absurd, because infinite cats don't exist, unfortunately.

[–] AEsheron@lemmy.world 4 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

The way read it they were using it as an example where absurdity makes sense to poke a hole in the logic that infinity can be used as a number.

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[–] prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 37 points 1 day ago (4 children)

This thread peaks my interest.

I hope my words piqued someone else’s interests more.

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[–] witty_username@feddit.nl 25 points 1 day ago (12 children)

Niche is pronounced neesh and not nitch

[–] sik0fewl@lemmy.ca 3 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

You should google the word "dialect" and see where it takes you.

[–] witty_username@feddit.nl 4 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

To search results about the word dialect

[–] sik0fewl@lemmy.ca 2 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

You were supposed to keep clicking.

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[–] AEsheron@lemmy.world 4 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Neesh is actually the much newer pronunciation apparently, TIL.

[–] witty_username@feddit.nl 1 points 18 hours ago (7 children)

What do you base that on?
According to the pronunciations on Wiktionary, nitch is Californian

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[–] Poop@lemmy.ca 23 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Using "racking" instead of the correct "wracking" in "wracking my brain". Not very common, but it annoys me... But not as much as "could of"... That is the worst, just stop it!

This is online and in person in Canada.

[–] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 34 points 1 day ago (6 children)

"For all intensive porpoises" is the one that really annoys me.

They're dolphins, not porpoises. Fuck, get your cetaceans right.

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