Have you been getting a phrase wrong all your life? | BBC Ideas

Have you found out you've been getting a phrase wrong all your life? It's OK! You're contributing to the evolution of the English language.

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#English #malaphors

[Exquisite_Cadaver]

When I was little, I said “shoot yourself” instead of “suit yourself”.

[besmart]

I could care less, irregardless of what you people think

[baba.mkhulu]

americans seem to use 'i could care less' (meaning you do care)...like english people use 'i couldn't care less' (meaning i don't care)...🇿🇦

[DSClesowich]

Don't count your chickens before they cross the road.

[FlyAVersatran]

In the Beatles' "Let it Be, " I thought the phrase...

"...And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me..."

Was
"...And in my oblidoplus, she is standing right in front of me."

The "oblidoplus" being the crossing in an English church between the main long hallway and the short side hallways.

Let's just say i had a lot of imagination...

...to fill the gaps where my Anglical architectural knowledge fell short.

[WZ]

I remember receiving work emails with the phrase "point of you", instead of "point of view".

[makeyourownpie]

And to conclude that "malaphor" uses the prefix "mal" would be participating in folk etymology

[Sarakate]

Like “I’m blue if I was green I would die” instead of “I’m blue da ba dee da ba die”

[Spherey]

i entirely wish that people could speak MORE clearer
Like one time when a person on tiktok said "jelly fruits" i thought he said "tootypoots" because first of all HE DID NOT SPEAK CLEARLY AND SECOND OF ALL I HAVE SEVERE MONDEGREENS AND SUFFER FROM IT EVERY SINGLE FRICKING DAY.

[hjelsethak]

Hey language is communal, therefore corruptible. Just think of it as a blessing in the skies.

[Spherey]

I kept hearing "burn the gate" instead of "renegade" repeatedly until i read the lyrics
I hate my ears

[danbee]

back when a book was technology folks were IMO brainiacs. So intotheir environment, never disregarded it. they were literal documentarians of this beautiful planets, ex:
'ode to nightingale' -keats
in school I couldnt comprehend all the mandated reading, all the significance of the plots, the passion for enduring words. Time is the concern, clear concise, and direct. Specifics will save us much time, yet slightly pleasing hearing these issues. I read awesome and aweful used to mean the same thing

[VoyageOne]

Kim: "I want to be effluent, mum. EFFLUENT!!"
Kath: "You are effluent, Kim!!"

[broodypie]

Dont put all your horses in one basket, we’ll burn that bridge when we get over it.

[jaymercer]

As a kid I thought prime minister was one word, “priminister”

[Antloveeva]

Fool me once shame on you, teach a man to fool and I’ll be fooled for the rest of my life

[maargenbx]

I always thought “we’ll burn (or bomb) that bridge when we come to it” was a deliberate joke, not a mistake.

[themax]

This was when I was a kid but pretty much everyone said "you want a piece of meat?" Before a flight.

[baba.mkhulu]

i often hear people talking about expresso...must be a really fast version of espresso coffee? 🇿🇦

[noiJadisCailleach]

So yeah, it's still pronounced as gif.
idc what others say.