The loss of cliché comprehension in modern text

[82_28]

This has bugged me for years and years. I have even been "guilty" of it here by believing, literally, that the term "fucking A" was "fuck an A". Reason being was because growing up someone once said, after I had been infected with the term and started using it, "fuck an O, it's smoother." So it essentially got embedded in my brain that it wasn't an "ing" or a "'n"m but an "an". So that said. I notice all the time these misspellings of little words used mostly in maxims and always, always forget them and because I think they are so funny and yet so telling. So here's the one I noticed tonight on a Broncos message board:

^^^this. People on the ESPN rankings were so been out of shape over the rankings and saying this team is overrated or that team is underrated.

Clearly we're going for "bent out of shape" here. But the rest of the dude's post is completely coherent and well spelled. You can also see how it still makes sense, but now qualifies the "were" with a different meaning and renders the word "been" meaningless. It's these little ways in which language works that so fascinate me. I see it all the time and wanted to log a little place to put these pho paws. Please add the ones you come accrossed. It could be fascinating what we find just randomly as we do our web thing.

edited to change "so fascinates me" to "so fascinate me". See what I mean?

[Weather Balloons]

The first time I saw "for all intents and purposes" written I thought to myself something along the lines of "What a strange take on the phrase 'for all intensive purposes'." I still generally hear "intensive" instead of "intents and" when people use the phrase. Words are weird.

[Fresno_Layshaft]

When the phrase "making ends meet" is uttered, I can't help but think of someone asking for "Ends Meat" at a butcher shop.

[brainpanhandler]

The first time I saw "for all intents and purposes" written I thought to myself something along the lines of "What a strange take on the phrase 'for all intensive purposes'." I still generally hear "intensive" instead of "intents and" when people use the phrase. Words are weird.

Heh. I had that wrong at some time too. I can't help but think that when people write things as they hear them that they must not be readers and that therefore they must not be very literate. If you read enough these sorts of things correct themselves.

When the phrase "making ends meet" is uttered, I can't help but think of someone asking for "Ends Meat" at a butcher shop.

That one too had me confused at some point. I took ends meat to mean earning enough to afford the sunday roast animal.

Those are two examples that at least have an understandable meaning and might work in context.


Toe the line however had me really confused because in context tow the line didn't really make sense.


and btw 82.. you have an understandable problem with fruh's thread titles and I sympathise. But the title of this thread makes little to no sense given what you want to talk about or even really at all.

[semper occultus]

...fate's boxing-glove can strike in the other direction though ....I know 2 people who embarrased themselves in conversation when trying to complain of being misled..but thinking it was pronounced "mizzled"

[norton ash]

When I was a boy, I used to think the word 'awry' was pronounced orey (rhymes with sorry) because of Don Awrey of the Boston Bruins. My dad got a good chuckle out of me saying "And then things went orey"... although it kinda works on the level of 'screwy' or 'wonky'.

Check out 2:15 for an indication of the lack of player-fan boundaries back in '70. Ha.

[brainpanhandler]

One I hear pretty frequently is "weary of" when the speaker means leery or wary of. I think they combine leery and wary into weary. But it just seems so boneheaded to me as weary has it's own meaning which has nothing to do with being cautious.

[Elvis]

"Sorry, that doesn't cut the mustard."

When I was a little kid I puzzled over what the hell cutting mustard had to do with anything, and why would you even "cut" mustard?


George Orwell urged us to find fresh ways of expression...clichés are a dime a dozen.

[Wombaticus Rex]

"Eggcorns" is the neologism for that precise mangling of cliches, and the dumbing down process has yielded billions. Just last night I heard a lady introduce her kids as "my prize and joy."

http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggcorn

[MacCruiskeen]

Thanks for starting the thread, 82. It's a great topic, and this could become a very full data dump. I keep encountering those "eggcorns" (thanks, wombat!) online myself, but I can't think of a single example right now.

I do remember when I was a very small kid, though, there was a newsreader on Scottish TV called Humour Ann. This struck me as quite a strange name, not least because that newsreader was male. Also, he was far from funny. But when you're three or four years old everything is equally strange anyway, so I never thought much about it. It was only when I learned to read (his name on the screen) that I realised he was called Hugh Moran.

(^^Is this an eggcorn or a mondegreen?)

Early on in my reading career, I also remember asking my father: "Daddy, what does Grand Pricks mean?" I was trying to decipher a comic about racing-cars.

[vondardanelle]

"I could care less" is so common now that I think no one uses the proper "I couldn't care less" anymore. this one is still kind of like nails on the blackboard to me, but in general i really enjoy seeing these kind of changes happen. wish I could have been there when "Pennsylvania Dutch" was solidified in meaning.

[JackRiddler]

Here here, my head literally explodes, it needs to be reigned in.

[Forgetting2]

Tagline for my unmade short horror film:

BEWARE

BE...
VERY...
WARE

[The Consul]

Does progressive Linguistic assimilation rule all manner of thought and reason?

Fuckin' A Ray Right, it do!

[Wombaticus Rex]

Today at work, someone in my usual office location casually mentioned the fact she didn't think schools should be teaching "Darwin's theories."

Oh, shit, wrong thread.