Common Phrases We Mess Up

17 Phrases You're Probably Saying Wrong

I saw this on Facebook this morning and immediately had to share. I was surprised at ones I had never heard and, what is even more mortifying, had never heard correctly before... Maybe you can sympathize? I am sure most of us can.

Never heard: "the baby screamed half the night" (instead of "the baby literally screamed all night" - I feel bad for anyone with a baby that has screamed all night long!)

How could I get this wrong?!: Hunger pangs v. hunger pains

I probably knew this one but forgot... : "You have another THINK coming." (not thing)

Just funny - I can't believe someone would say this: Escape goat v. SCAPE goat

My pet peeve: "I could care less." If you could care less, that means you do care in some way. And if you care, it probably means you would sympathize with the situation. If you couldn't care less, you can walk away without any emotional attachment. Lucky you?

Growthful

Sometimes the word you really want just doesn't exist. And so you have to create a hybrid (see my other post on intentful).


growth·ful (grthfl)

adj.

1. Manifesting growth.

2. Inspiring growth, full development, maturity.

3. In the process of growing, developing fully, maturing.

4. To be full of growth that will result in complete development, maturity.

It is somewhat a cross of hopeful and growth (taken from freedictionary.com), though definitely stronger on the idea of growing. May you have a growthful March.

Waiting With Baited Breath

Phonetics mess with us so many times! If you are waiting for something or someone with "baited" breath, you are probably trying attract them with the smell of your breath, which may not be entirely attractive... Though it could work depending on what you have in your mouth and what you're trying to catch. I like this image of a man holding a sardine in his mouth in an attempt to catch a cat! (IT Knowledge Exchange)

Bated is the word you are looking for in this expression:
"We were all waiting with bated breath."

It means you are holding your breath, which communicates feelings of excitement or anxiety (according to thefreedictionary.com).

A Light Bulb Went Off

It's typically not good when light bulbs go off (unless you're trying to sleep or save on electricity costs), and it becomes quite amusing when you hear this metaphorical expression used incorrectly by a teacher describing a learning moment in her classroom. No, this teacher wasn't trying to communicate that her students were in a temporary state of intellectual darkness. She really meant to say that a light bulb had gone ON. (Gotta love those moments as a teacher!)

She may have mixed this idea with an auditory "image" of a bell or an alarm going OFF (which really doesn't make sense because the sound is actually ON, though we would never say "an alarm going on").