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Misspoken or Misunderstood phrases


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I admit, I do say a few things "wrong" For instance:

 

Crayon: Cran

That's not wrong. At least in my house. :mellow

 

I have always thought that "fixintuh" was a grammatical disaster, but I still use it.

 

As in, I'm fixintuh go to the store - anybody want anything?

Well, it's better than "finna."

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That must be the Northern version.

I heard it a fair amount back in high school (20+ years ago). Its use seemed to correspond roughly to socioeconomic status ... i.e., it wasn't the middle/upper class students who talked like that.

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See, but it's not pronounced "awnry." It's pronounced aw-NEH-ree.

People mis-pronounce this word all the time.

 

Well, being very ornery, I'm going to continue to say "awnry."

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  • 1 month later...

It's "try to" not "try and". "You'll try to get back to me", for instance.

 

Already saw two of my perennial favorites mentioned: Valentime's Day and "for all intensive purposes".

 

I work for an engineering department, and always crack up inside when I hear rip-rap (the large stone used to stabilize ditches and drainage intakes/outfalls) referred to as "riff-raff".

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I work for an engineering department, and always crack up inside when I hear rip-rap (the large stone used to stabilize ditches and drainage intakes/outfalls) referred to as "riff-raff".

This reminded me of something I see pretty often on craigslist: people selling wrought iron goods as "rod iron."

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Glad I'm not the only one who notices these grammar errors (or just plain "wrong word" instances).

 

A few I can add are:

 

its versus it's

effect versus affect

ain't

 

And, while I realize it's a dialect-related issue, the mispronunciation of my state, Washington -- it has no "r" in it.

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I have always thought that "fixintuh" was a grammatical disaster, but I still use it.

 

As in, I'm fixintuh go to the store - anybody want anything?

 

 

Not a misspeak...it's a dialect.

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Glad I'm not the only one who notices these grammar errors (or just plain "wrong word" instances).

 

A few I can add are:

 

its versus it's

effect versus affect

ain't

 

And, while I realize it's a dialect-related issue, the mispronunciation of my state, Washington -- it has no "r" in it.

 

 

Don't dis ain't ... it has a long and storied entomology.

 

 

"...Critics say frequent use of ain

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Well, I have family members who use "ain't" on a regular basis - I don't correct them as it's part of their regional dialect. I never developed their accent or colloquialisms such as "ain't" or "y'all" as I grew up on military bases all over the country. Regardless, I would not use "ain't" at work or in a professional situation.

 

 

You could regard ain't as a colloquialism seldom found in business conversations.

 

Ya'll is simply an attempt at the second person plural (for which the English language does not have an equivalent).

 

Ya'll is akin to 'Youse guys" and 'You guys'. It's just easier to portray 'Ya'll' as being the provence of the ignorant because it is usually said with a southern accent.

 

I abhor the homogenization of our language. The richness of regional dialects and colloquialisms should be celebrated, not scorned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'I could care less' as opposed to 'I couldn't care less'...

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