this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2025
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Please state in which country your phrase tends to be used, what the phrase is, and what it should be.

Example:

In America, recently came across "back-petal", instead of back-pedal. Also, still hearing "for all intensive purposes" instead of "for all intents and purposes".

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 36 minutes ago

Idk if this counts as a phrase, but on the internet, people talk about their pets crossing the rainbow bridge when they die. That's not how the rainbow bridge poem goes. Pets go to a magnificent field when they die. They are healed of all injury and illness. When you die, they find you in the field and you cross the bridge together. It's much sweeter the way it was written than the way people use it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 hours ago

It's always going to be the "of" people. Its "would have", "should have" etc and not "would of".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 hours ago

The vast majority of these issues could be solved if people a) read any halfway-decent book, b) and didn’t choose to remain willfully ignorant. It’s fine to misunderstand or just not know something. We’ve all been there, we’ll be there again. NBD. But to be shown or offered the correct way and still choose to do it wrongly? That’s not cool at all.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

People saying "exscape", "expresso", "pasghetti"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 39 minutes ago

"Give me a ghetto, you stupid French landlord!"

"Je n'ai pasghetti!"

(Pardon my French)

[–] Classy 1 points 47 minutes ago

"Ex-setera"

Hate seeing "ect." from otherwise very smart people. What, you have never seen it notated as "etc." or "&c" before??

[–] ayyy 7 points 4 hours ago

About 1 in 3 posters here say “loose” when they mean “lose”

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

Online in general: using "reductio ad absurdum" as a fallacy.

It's a longstanding logical tool. Here's an example of how it works: let's assume you can use infinity as a number. In that case, we can do:

∞ + 1 = ∞

And:

∞ - ∞ = 0

Agreed? If so, then:

∞ - ∞ + 1 = ∞ - ∞

And therefore:

1 = 0

Which is absurd. If we agree that all the logical steps to get there are correct, then the original premise (that we can use infinity as a number) must be wrong.

It's a great tool for teasing out incorrect assumptions. It has never been on any academic list of fallacies, and the Internet needs to stop saying otherwise. It's possible some other fallacy is being invoked while going through an argument, but it's not reductio ad absurdum.

[–] Classy 2 points 41 minutes ago* (last edited 40 minutes ago)

Well if we're going to be talking about logical fallacies, I feel like the string of arguments that you made there is a category error. Infinity isn't exactly a number, it's more of a philosophical concept than anything else. I would argue that trying to subtract Infinity from Infinity is illogical and kind of silly, but it wouldn't be a reductio ad absurdum as you put it, but instead a category error.

An absurdist argument might be more like, if I have one cat I can trade it for one dog. Therefore infinite cats can be traded for infinite dogs. This is obviously absurd, because infinite cats don't exist, unfortunately.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 hours ago

What entitlement means vs false sense of entitlement.

I tell people they are entitled to their rights and have an entitlement to their social security money for example, and they get offended thinking I mean "false sense of entitlement" instead.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

Using "racking" instead of the correct "wracking" in "wracking my brain". Not very common, but it annoys me... But not as much as "could of"... That is the worst, just stop it!

This is online and in person in Canada.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 hours ago (7 children)

Niche is pronounced neesh and not nitch

[–] ayyy 4 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I heard Nice things about France

[–] [email protected] 1 points 37 minutes ago

I heard things about niche, France.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 hours ago

I've heard this one like 3 times in the last month on youtube and it bothers me a lot

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 hours ago

"addicting"

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I know someone that says 'Pacific' instead of 'specific'. The man has his talents & his place in the world, food man, but yes that is infuriating.

[–] tyrefyre 7 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I know someone who calls it the “Specific Ocean”

[–] [email protected] 2 points 37 minutes ago

This specific ocean!!

[–] prettybunnys 22 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

This thread peaks my interest.

I hope my words piqued someone else’s interests more.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

"Shoot that guy when he peaks the corner again"

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 hours ago

Oh this one's peak

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 hours ago (3 children)

Yeah /yĕ′ə, yă′ə, yā′ə/ is a different word than Yea /yā/

[–] [email protected] 2 points 35 minutes ago

As in the well known Christmas carol, "Oh come, all ye faithful dudes," verse 7, "Yeah, Lord we greet thee, born this happy morning..."

[–] ayyy 2 points 4 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 26 points 12 hours ago (5 children)

"For all intensive porpoises" is the one that really annoys me.

They're dolphins, not porpoises. Fuck, get your cetaceans right.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 hours ago

Lol I believe it's "for all intents and doplhins."

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 hours ago

[cetacean needed]

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 hours ago

Haha is this a follow up on that one post with the OP writing "back-petal"?

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