Incorrectly used sayings and phrases (malapropisims and related)

The use of 'revert' in business correspondence.

It does not mean respond or reply. Yet many people think it does.

Hypercorrection also bothers me. People saying "Please return the form to Dave or I" instead of "Please return to form to Dave or me"
 
A favourite of radio sports reporters seems to be "formal-ya one"; which reminds me of Homer Simpson declaring "its pronounced nuc-u-lar"
 
Friend's garnny told me her husband was in hospital as he had a bad attack of vagina
 
:eek: Sounds a bit like our Labrador.

New Home said:
'It's' instead of 'its', and 'its' spelt like 'it's', 'theirs' instead of 'there's', 'your' instead of 'you're', and so on. 'Can not' instead of 'cannot'. All those plurals spelt with an 'apostrophe s' (plural's), and the Saxon genitives spelt like plurals ('childrens books', 'mens shoes', etc) - and some of these on the main newspapers! AAAARRRRGHHH!!!
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New Home, I have spotted your deliberate error and I claim my £10...
 
The Times of London / The London Times / The English Times - there are no such newspapers, despite RTE talking heads trying to convince me otherwise.

The London Independent / The English Independent - El Presidente Field-Marshall The Honourable Dr. Sir A.J.F. O'Reilly Esq. has no such newspaper in the media stable

Irish sporting journalists and commentators please take note of the following -

  • The English FA doesn't exist - the organisation responsible for the administration and organisation of the game of Association Football in England is the "Football Association" - http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/WhoWeAre.aspx
  • The English RFU doesn't exist - the organisation responsible for Rugby Football in England is the "Rugby Football Union" -
 
Re: Incorrectly used sayings and phrases

ajapale said:
There is a spokesman for the HSE who constantly talks about a medical LABRATTY instead of Laboratory!
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The interim/designated head of NAMA refers to monetary amounts in millins and billins :rolleyes:
 
mathepac said:
The Times of London / The London Times / The English Times - there are no such newspapers, despite RTE talking heads trying to convince me otherwise.

The London Independent / The English Independent...
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Fair enough, but surely only referred to as such to distinguish between our 'own' Times and Independent though?
 
If someone says "The Times" I know the newspaper they mean, I don't need some condescending media oik engaging in unnecessary and inaccurate qualification and nomenclature re-assignment to compensate for their false assumptions about my differentiation skills.
 
mathepac said:
If someone says "The Times" I know the newspaper they mean, I don't need some condescending media oik engaging in unnecessary and inaccurate qualification and nomenclature re-assignment to compensate for their false assumptions about my differentiation skills.
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ooooh, get you! :rolleyes:
Just who's the condescending one, I wonder ?
 
Yorky said:
'Irish Time' rather than GMT. I have yet to hear anyone within the media or the general public to refer to the local time correctly
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GMT remains the same all year round. Irish Time and British Summer Time are GMT+1 in "summer time" and revert to GMT for "winter time".

HTH.
 
1. Chimley

2. 'American English' spelling, as in using 'z' instead of 's'; I blame the Word spellcheck for this creeping invasion!

3. Ally wheels.
 
Re: Incorrectly used sayings and phrases

TarfHead said:
The interim/designated head of NAMA refers to monetary amounts in millins and billins :rolleyes:
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I dont care how he pronounces them so long as he can count them!!

Anyway,Tarfhead, I have no doubt that your own accent(whatever it is) is beyond reproach.:rolleyes::rolleyes:..but I love the fact that people speak with different regional accents and millins and billins make me smile!
 
In relation to "in relation to" I think there's considerable misuse. You hear stuff such as "The Government will look at the issues in relation to pay cuts...." (of) or "In relation to pay cuts the Government's position is clear...." (about).

"In relation to" implies a connection or ratio or comparison between/among things - too often it's used as a synonym for "about" "of" or "regarding")
 
I periodically and deliberately use the phrase 'we'll burn that bridge when we cross it'.
 
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