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Phrases

  • 22nd Apr, 2005 at 11:38 AM
umm hey
darkcryst
Phrases are often mis-quoted. Here's one I noticed earlier today:

"Hoist with his own petard"

The correct phrase is "Hoisted by his own petard." A petard is a keg of gunpowder that would be placed against castle/fortress gates and lit. The fuses were rather unreliable -- so an unlucky, or just plain incompetant, engineer could be hoisted (blown up) by his own petard.

What are ones you've noticed or that irritate you?
  • Current Mood: curious curious

Comments

( 17 comments — Leave a comment )
rethought
22nd Apr, 2005 12:42 (UTC)
I often here people talking about people 'getting their comeuppance' except they say it like 'cummuffins'. Which is uncalled for and, frankly, plain dirty.
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darkcryst
22nd Apr, 2005 12:54 (UTC)
*laughs*

thats just... wrong! hehe
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moriarty6
22nd Apr, 2005 14:30 (UTC)
  • "fustrated"
  • "supposably"
  • people who use "idea" and "ideal" interchangeably
  • people who describe something as "ironic" that is merely coincidence
  • people who way "chaise lounge". it's "chaise longue, goddammit!
  • people who attempt to correct me when I explain that it's longue, not lounge. bitch, only one of us in this room speaks French, and it ain't you.


    I'm sure I'll think of more.
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    darkcryst
    22nd Apr, 2005 19:52 (UTC)
    argh argh argh... those are all eeeeevil. Tho I can understand the "ironic" one as its soooo missused.

    Still annoying tho.
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    choebe
    22nd Apr, 2005 15:49 (UTC)
    The misuse of ironic/irony really bugs me, too. It's one of those words people use to try to sound smart, and use it improperly and make themselves look quite stupid. How ironic!

    "For all intensive purposes." Grr.

    A little while ago, my mom was making herself some tea. She wasn't sure yet what kind of tea she wanted, but she said "Usually I'll be in the kitchen, wondering what to have, when it literally hits me." So I asked "You mean, the box of tea falls out of the cabinet and lands on you?" and this is when I got called a smartypants : P

    I know these aren't really related, but it drives me crazy when people say things like "I use to go there all the time" or "I'm suppose to do that today." Or, "I should of seen that coming."

    People need to think before they speak/write! >: (
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    darkcryst
    22nd Apr, 2005 19:54 (UTC)
    yeeeah... Litterally really bugs me too. I used to over-use it, but at least I was using it correctly.

    Basically I think a lot of this is comming down to: People just don't know the damn language they are speaking properly. *sigh*
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    sisiphus
    22nd Apr, 2005 18:14 (UTC)
    chalk full v. chock full

    could of v. could've

    You should post this in the grammar_whores (US) or grammar_police (UK) community. They get a kick out of stuff like this.
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    darkcryst
    22nd Apr, 2005 20:03 (UTC)
    Yeeeah, I concidered it, but often I find the bickering in the comments just plain annoying.

    Which is why I'm not a member of either...

    Plus I was more interested what people who read this journal have found, you know?
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    elfin_archer
    22nd Apr, 2005 20:10 (UTC)
    The word that people spell/ pronounce wrong the most that bothers me is the word "probably." It is not prolly, the word is PRO-BAB-LY. THREE syllables!!! Yeesh. Some people.
    gnarf.

    (as an aside, where did you get the "countdown to cute"?)
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    darkcryst
    22nd Apr, 2005 20:34 (UTC)
    heh, I abbrivate it online, because I'm a lazy typist in IM/IRC. I try not to do it in posts, but I've done it in comments.

    But spoken? argh.. that would annoy me. Then again I've noticed I've often started dropping the "ab" so it becomes probly, which is close to prolly... when I catch myself doing that it annoys me.

    The countdown to cute image is one I made myself (its hosted on my webspace) the photo is of my girlfriend kissing me on the cheek, and its a countdown till when she lands at Heathrow Airport :)

    The box itself is just a basic customisation of the S2 template (a user layer I think). Using a template funtion.
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    miriammiriam
    22nd Apr, 2005 23:21 (UTC)
    aaaactually....I made that one for once! haha! i cropped out your eye which you said looked funny ;) remember?
    3 more weeks!
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    darkcryst
    22nd Apr, 2005 23:27 (UTC)
    Good point, you cropped it to that from the photo I took. I more mean the image as a countdown tho.. as its generated by php code from that image ;)
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    miriammiriam
    22nd Apr, 2005 23:36 (UTC)
    well, la dee da mr. englishman
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    darkcryst
    23rd Apr, 2005 09:43 (UTC)
    yes! I doff my top-hat at you :P ;)
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    miriammiriam
    23rd Apr, 2005 17:30 (UTC)
    well i doff my chinchilla at you in retaliation.
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    miriammiriam
    22nd Apr, 2005 23:35 (UTC)
    i'm sick and tired of people confusing the words "loose" and "lose," but i've complained about that in my own journal before.
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    mind_opened
    26th Apr, 2005 06:15 (UTC)
    Effect vs Affect - Ack! Looked it up once and now when I see either of them used incorrectly it makes the back of my brain itch!

    check out http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/index.html
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