While the English language may not be the hardest to learn, it can be easy to mess up some of its classic sayings.
- These are called "eggcorns," a mispronunciation of "acorns" and defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “a word or phrase that sounds like and is mistakenly used in a seemingly logical or plausible way for another word or phrase either on its own or as part of a set expression.”
- Here are some English phrases that people tend to get wrong:
- 1) Saying "Nip it in the butt" instead of "Nip it in the bud."
- 2) Saying "To pass mustard" instead of "To pass muster."
- 3) Saying “Soaping wet” instead of “Soaking wet.”
- 4) Saying “to all intensive purposes” instead of “to all intents and purposes”
- 5) Saying a “mute point” instead of a “moot point”
- 6) Saying “biting your time” instead of “biding your time”
- 7) Saying “dull as dishwater” instead of “dull as ditch water”
- 8) Saying an “old wise tale” instead of an “old wives’ tale”
- 9) Saying “wheelbarrel” instead of “wheelbarrow”
- 10) Saying “nerve wrecking” instead of “nerve-racking”
- 11) Saying “illicit a response” instead of “elicit a response”
- 12) Saying “expresso” instead of “espresso”
- 13) Saying “damp squid” instead of “damp squib”
- 14) Saying “on tender hooks” instead of “on tenterhooks”
- Do you say any of these phrases wrong? Is there a common phrase that you have to correct people about?