The English language is definitely a dynamic language, so much so, that it never runs out of surprises. As for today, we'll look into eggcorns, which are words or phrases that sound like and is mistakenly used in seemingly logical or plausible way for another word or phrase. You might have been saying these eggcorns, and today is the day you learn the correct ones!
Let me walk you through it:
1. "Oh no! You're barking at the wrong tree!"
'Barking up the wrong tree' originated in 1800s America when hunting involves a whole pack of dogs. It's probably from the fact that dogs tend to bark up a raccoon on a tree, even though the raccoon had already leaped from one tree to another. So when you bark up the wrong tree, it means you misunderstand a person or a situation and your actions against them will be futile. It also means you are doing something that won't give you the results you desire. 'Barking at the wrong tree' just doesn't exist in any lexicons yet.
2. "He ran butt naked from the shower because he thought it was a real snake!"
Buck naked is an expression used to describe a person in a state of utter undress. Butt naked would mean other people just saw your butt exposed, which, if you think about it, is just foolish. Although, this expression has been misheard too often as 'butt naked', that most grammarians are starting to accept it. One point for eggcorns.
3. "The CEO was made the escape goat for the company's failure."
Scapegoat means to punish someone for the error or errors made by others. It's like when your sibling would eat all the chocolates while you're asleep and tell your parents that it was you who ate it all. You are their scapegoat. As for escape goat, it hasn't been accepted yet, but you can see it in many slangs and modern lexicons like Urban Dictionary.
4. "He thinks I'll chase him? Tell him that I could care less!"
If you intend to be very angry and indifferent, please do so by correctly saying this hackneyed expression. I couldn't care less means you're at the point of really not caring at all that you can't give anymore cares. You have depleted whatever care you have. 'I could care less' simply means, well, you're implying you still have some degree of care - an amount such that there could be a lesser amount.
5. "This fabric is totally inflammable, it's very safe!"
If someone tells me a fabric is inflammable and very safe, I'd definitely won't believe. Inflammable means easy to catch fire, it's combustible. What people should start saying is that, something fire-resistant is 'not flammable'. Yes, inflammable means the same as flammable.
6. "I tripped on my way home on (an) accident."
To clear things up, younger generation has started using 'on accident' in speaking terms, and is very popular in US. However, on accident means on purpose. One won't trip on purpose, will they? By accident means unintentionally, and on accident means totally the opposite.
7. "I've put my jewelry in a bank's safety deposit box."
The phrase referring to a box in which valuables are stored is called 'safe deposit box' because it's a box in which you can make a safe deposit. But this eggcorn is totally understandable because when you say 'safe deposit box' aloud and in faster manner, the first two syllables run together to sound exactly like 'safety'.
8. "Studying at Caltech is just too difficult. It's a doggy-dog world."
Another notable and pardonable eggcorn. Dog-eat-dog world means an extremely competitive environment. It's a world where only the fittest survive. Think about the hunger games, it's exactly like that. Although we only use this expression metaphorically in real life, of course.
9. "Nip it in the butt so you won't have problem in the future."
'Nipped in the bud' has it's origin from gardening. When you nip something, you sever it or you pinch it to stop or stunt its growth. When you nip a bud (the topmost part of a plant), it will stop growing. Nipped in the bud means to solve minor issues now, so it won't bring more problems in the future. When you nip someone in the butt... I don't really think you should be nipping somebody else's.
10. "The queen is to deliver a message to everyone, supposably."
If you're saying 'supposably' to mean 'according to what many believe', then you should say 'supposedly.' I can't find anything online and on books which justifies that people can use 'supposably'.
11. "This document can be used for all intensive purposes."
This one's a big pet peeve of mine. How can a document be used for an intense purpose? If you mean that a document or something can serve 'for all practical purposes and situations', then the correct expression is 'for all intents and purposes'.
12. "Well, if you think about what I said, you've got another thing coming."
To be honest, this phrase has been so misheard too often that it's just going to be a matter of time before 'you've got another thing coming' gets accepted. When someone says "If you think that, you've got another think coming" what the speaker is meaning is 'if you think that, then your thought is wrong, you need to have another one."
13. "People take their health for granted in this day in age."
Another eggcorn, but this time, unforgivable. Day and age means right at this moment and during a considerable stretch of time around this moment. Day in age just doesn't mean anything.
14. "All and all, everything went well."
If you're going to argue that 'all and all' is the same as 'all in all', I'd tell you that's it's so totally not. All in all is an idiomatic expression which means everything taken into account. It could be reworded as 'in sum'. All and all is just a redundancy.
15. "Please don't call me now. I'm on tenderhooks."
Whatever adjective you want to associate with hooks, it's definitely not the word tender. According to our friends from The Phrase Finder, we are once again get caught out by an archaic word that isn't used outside of this expression. This time the word is 'tenter', which is a wooden frame used to dry cloth. The wet cloth was fixed to the frame with hooks, hence the expression. So, "on tenterhooks" means under stress or tension. It's also used as a general term for anxiety and uneasiness.
0 comments:
Post a Comment