I often find myself messing up common phrases or hearing my coworkers messing up common phrases. When I’m unsure, I do a Google search to make sure that what I’m writing is actually what I’m trying to say. This inspired me to come up with a list of common phrases that we have been saying incorrectly. Some of them aren’t completely our fault because the incorrect way of saying them has actually become the “norm”. Take for example, you’ve got another thing coming, this is actually wrong. Read the rest to learn the correct phrase.
When mistaken formations of words or phrases are used in a seemingly logical or plausible way, like “for all intensive purposes,” it’s known as an eggcorn.
What is an Eggcorn?
It is a word or phrase that results from a mishearing or misinterpretation of another. It’s when an element of the original is substituted for one that sounds very similar or identical.
Correct Phrase: Nip it in the bud
Incorrect version: Nip it in the Butt
This idiom references gardening. A flower that is “nipped in the bud” wouldn’t grow and blossom. This phrase is often used to suggest that by handling a something when it’s a minor problem, you’ll be able to avert a crisis.
Correct Phrase: You’ve got another think coming
Incorrect version: You’ve got another thing coming
If you think the expression is “you’ve got another thing coming”, then you have misheard the expression “you’ve got another think coming”.
Correct Phrase: One and the same
Incorrect Version: One in the same
When you really sit and think about it, “one in the same” doesn’t mean anything at all. The correct phrase “one and the same” means that two things are the same.
Correct Phrase: I couldn’t care less
Incorrect Version: I could care less
Saying that you could care less about a topic implies that you do care about it at least a little. What you usually mean is that you don’t care about the topic at all, hence “I couldn’t care less”.
Correct Phrase: For all intents and purposes
Incorrect version: For all intensive purposes
Correct Phrase: I’m giving you leeway
Incorrect Version: I’m giving you lead way
Leadway actually isn’t even a word. Leeway means extra space and freedom.
Correct Phrase: Beck and Call
Incorrect Version: Beckon call
This is an odd one because if we use the word beckon on its own, it actually means to be at someone’s beck and call. The incorrect version just became the misheard popular way to say this phrase.
Correct Phrase: A Whole Other
Incorrect Version: A whole nother
Many writers insert an apostrophe in a whole ‘nother, but this would logically indicate that the writer means a whole another.
Correct Phrase: Buck Naked
Incorrect version: Butt naked
Both versions are widely used, and neither should be considered incorrect. In fact, “butt naked” may be the more popular term today, as we’ll show later. No doubt many people feel, like you, that it makes more sense than “buck naked.”
Correct Phrase: Hone in
Incorrect Version: Home in
The word hone means to sharpen or improve somehow. For example, you can hone your language skills. To home in on something means to get closer to it.
Correct Phrase: By Accident
Incorrect Version: On accident
You can do something on purpose, but not on accident. Prepositions are a killer.
Correct Phrase: Curl up in the Fetal Position
Incorrect Version: Curl up in the feeble position
Feeble means weak and frail. So in a way, curling up in a feeble position isn’t too far off. However, the actual fetal position that people are referring to is the curled up position that fetuses use while in the womb.
Correct Phrase: Moot Point
Incorrect Version: Mute point
Correct Phrase: Hunger pangs
Incorrect Version: Hunger pains
You might feel pains when hungry, but their recurrence makes them pangs. The discomforts or cramping caused by hunger are known as hunger pangs not pains. … Because the word is rarely seen elsewhere and its pronunciation is close to “pain” the phrase is often confused for “hunger pains.”
Correct Phrase: Should have/Should’ve
Incorrect Version: Should of
It sounds as if you’re saying “should of” or “shoulda” and “must of” or “musta,” but these words are really contractions.
Correct Phrase: Worse comes to Worst
Incorrect Version: Worse comes to worse
Both the worst/worst and worse/worst variants are perfectly acceptable in standard English. If worse/worst seems more logical to you, then by all means use that opportunity to make idiomatic language a little more reasonable.
Correct Phrase: Deep-Seated
Incorrect Version: Deep-seeded
Deep-seated is the correct term as it means “firmly established”, but it also has an earlier literal meaning of “situated far below the surface”.
Correct Phrase: Palmed Off
Incorrect Version: Pawned off
Yes, but “pawn off” is easier to pronounced than “palm off“. Pawn off and palm off can both mean “to get rid of” or “pass off,” but palm off often implies a higher amount of deceit.
Correct Phrase: Biding your Time
Incorrect Version: Biting your time
When you think about it, it sounds kind of strange to say that you’re “biting” your time, doesn’t it? Well, that’s because it is strange—and it doesn’t make sense. If you’re trying to say that you’re waiting for something, then what you’re trying to say is that you’re biding your time, not biting it.
Correct Phrase: Dog-eat-dog world
Incorrect Version: Doggy dog world
Add a second G to the word dog and you’ve got the title of an early ’90s Snoop Dogg track. In any other scenario, though, the phrase “doggy dog world” doesn’t make much sense. It’s actually “dog-eat-dog world,” meaning it’s highly competitive.
Bonus! – Aks vs. Ask
This is one that I heard for the first time when I moved to New York. You don’t aks/axe for things. You ask for them. I’m not sure when the “s” and “k” got switched but it happens all the time when people talk.
I hope you learned something new in this! Let me know in the comments which phrases you’ve been saying incorrectly.
I definitely say the word ask wrong and it’s so funny you put that on the list because everyone tells me about it and I think it’s just a lisp thing
Nip it in the butt! LOL! What a fun list you’ve put together!
Wow, I’ve made some of these mistakes…good to know the correct version 🙂
this was so entertaining, particularly bc someone I work with says ‘nip it in the butt’ and it makes me CRAZY!