SIGforum
Common expressions that are wrong (or we think are wrong).

This topic can be found at:
https://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/230601935/m/7170015564

January 18, 2020, 09:35 AM
SW_Sig
Common expressions that are wrong (or we think are wrong).
Singer @#$&* just dropped a new album.

Will you itch my back?

I am running an Aimpoint Micro T-2 on my AR.
January 18, 2020, 09:43 AM
fpuhan
"It's" versus "its." The first is a contraction for "it is" or "it has." The second is the possessive pronoun.

"Their" versus "there" versus "they're." Isn't English a funny language?

For those with an extremely mild passing interest, I wrote a screed about this in 1996, when the Internet was still new.




You can't truly call yourself "peaceful" unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of great violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.

NRA Benefactor/Patriot Member
January 18, 2020, 11:19 AM
divil
I have a friend who says:

Stub Nose instead of Snub Nose ( when we talk about revolvers)

And in general conversation:
I hate it with a Flying passion instead of Flaming passion.

I no longer try to correct and just nod along. It’s easier. Confused
January 18, 2020, 11:32 AM
egregore
"Let's see if we can't ___"
January 18, 2020, 02:05 PM
Yellow Jacket
Where you at?



God's mercy: NOT getting what we deserve!
God's grace: Getting what we DON'T deserve!

"If the enemy is in range, so are you." - Infantry Journal

Bob
P239 40 S&W
Endowment NRA
Viet Nam '69-'70
January 18, 2020, 02:06 PM
RogueJSK
The phrase is "nip it in the bud", like cutting off a flower bud before it has a chance to bloom. It means to handle something before it gets too big or out of control.

It's not "nip it in the butt", like getting bitten in the ass.


(Although, if you know you have an issue and you don't nip it in the bud, it very well might come back to bite you in the ass.)
January 18, 2020, 03:14 PM
iron chef
quote:
Originally posted by Krazeehorse:
Using the word literally when you aren't being literal. I saw a judge on AGT say that her jaw literally hit the floor over a contestant's performance. Her jaw may have in fact dropped but I'm confident it didn't hit the floor.

This ^^^ Mad

If you use literally in a sentence, and you substitute it w/ figuratively or actually, would the sentence would still make sense? If not, then you probably aren't using it properly.

I submit surreal. People started using surreal when they thought it made them sound smarter than using words such as: unreal, incredible, amazing, like-a-dream. Surreal pertains to dreams in the sense of hallucinatory, bizarre, and nonsensical, not dream-like in the sense of hopes, goals, and aspirations.

When you look at Salvador Dali paintings, they are considered consumate representations of Surrealism. Winning the championship game shouldn't feel like being on a bad LSD trip.
January 18, 2020, 09:18 PM
Day_late
"Discrete" vs "Discreet" The author of a novel I'm reading consistently misuses discrete (separate or distinct) when she clearly means discreet (unobtrusive or unnoticeable).
January 30, 2020, 05:26 PM
Inusuit
Anyways.
January 30, 2020, 06:19 PM
V-Tail
quote:
Originally posted by Yellow Jacket:

Where you at?
That one really bothers me.

Everybody knows that it should be "Where y'at?"



הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים
January 30, 2020, 06:23 PM
PowerSurge
Where you stay?


———————————————
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Psalm 14:1
January 31, 2020, 01:34 AM
Prefontaine
Axe me a question. No it’s “ask” me a question.



What am I doing? I'm talking to an empty telephone
February 05, 2020, 06:57 PM
4MUL8R
I particularly dislike expressions that link the speaker to a "community" or "people group." Misappropriation of the device used to chop wood as a query is beyond comprehension. Why do this?

Some people say "I did it on accident" instead of "I did it by accident." I recommend "I did it accidentally."

The phrase that most often annoys me is one including "unparalleled." I believe this word stems from tne French "nonpareil" which means "without equal." I have no idea how something can be unparalleled. Unparalleled customer service? Unparalleled to what? But, reading online dictionaries I see that I am wrong in my interpretation. Still annoyed, but willing to change.


-------
Trying to simplify my life...
February 06, 2020, 05:59 AM
sigfreund
quote:
Originally posted by Day_late:
"Discrete" vs "Discreet"


That was the example I would write on the board (yes, with real chalk) during the first session of a report writing class at the Army intelligence school to illustrate why the students needed dictionaries for the course.




6.4/93.6

“Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.”
— Plato
February 06, 2020, 07:05 AM
PHPaul
quote:
Unparalleled customer service? Unparalleled to what?


I get your bitch, but your example is a tad weak. "Unparalleled" compared to every other customer service experience the speaker has ever had.

Hyperbole no doubt, but possible and logically correct.




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
February 06, 2020, 03:36 PM
12131
OMG, I've never seen this embarrassingly incorrect use of "in memoriam". Even worse, it's in the article's title. Roll Eyes

IN MEMORANDUM TO THE SIG P239 COMPACT CARRY GUN (VIDEOS)
https://www.guns.com/news/2019...act-carry-gun-videos


Q






February 06, 2020, 06:30 PM
AllenInAR
Not a pet peeve, but my favorite to date.....

A certain Special Forces senior NCO wrote a lengthy, detailed operations order for a "gorilla warfare" training mission. And "gorilla" was used repeatedly through the OPORD.

No primates were harmed in the execution of said mission though. Big Grin


_______________________________

The artist formerly known as AllenInWV
February 06, 2020, 07:57 PM
johnfritz
"One years old"

It seems everyone says this.
February 08, 2020, 08:54 PM
slabsides45
I misused the phrase "bated breath" by writing "baited breath" earlier in the week here on the forum, and someone called me on it. Not the first time I've written it the wrong way.


________________________________________________

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving."
-Dr. Adrian Rogers
February 09, 2020, 08:01 AM
Kraquin
Not so much in meaning but in pronunciation .....

Supposably when it should be Supposedly.

I hear it a lot.

Also the tense of see.

My wife's sister never uses saw. She always says, "I seen.."

There are several other verbal and written annoyances I hear and see quite frequently in this locality. I'm not by any means a walking edition of Harbrace but JHC I had the same freakin' teachers these people did.