{"id":5346,"date":"2017-08-13T16:40:59","date_gmt":"2017-08-13T16:40:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2017\/08\/13\/frequently-misused-expressions\/"},"modified":"2017-08-13T16:40:59","modified_gmt":"2017-08-13T16:40:59","slug":"frequently-misused-expressions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2017\/08\/13\/frequently-misused-expressions\/","title":{"rendered":"Frequently Misused Expressions"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is an updated version of a language rant first published in October 2013.<\/span><\/p>\n

……………<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Nazi<\/a>You've  heard of the Soup Nazi.  I'm the Language Nazi. And that's my cat, Heinrich. <\/span><\/p>\n

1.  Toe<\/em> the line, not: tow the line.<\/span><\/p>\n

2.  Tough row<\/em> to hoe, not: tough road to hoe. <\/span><\/p>\n

3.  Rack<\/em> one's brains, not: wrack one's brains.<\/span><\/p>\n

4.  Wrack<\/em> and ruin, not: rack and ruin.<\/span><\/p>\n

5.  Flout<\/em> the law, not: flaunt the law. <\/span><\/p>\n

6.  Give advice<\/em>, not: give advise.  "He advised her to take his advice cum grano salis."<\/span><\/p>\n

7.  Cum grano salis<\/em>, not: cum grano Sallust.  (This one's a joke; I just made it up.)<\/span><\/p>\n

8.  One and<\/em> the same; not: one in the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

9.  Same thing<\/em>, not: same difference.  One of those moronic expressions that is so bad it's good.  Tom: "That's a firefly!"  Dick: "Its a glowbug!"  Jethro:  "Same difference!"  This is not to suggest that there aren't correct uses of 'same difference.'<\/span><\/p>\n

10. Regardless<\/em>, not: irregardless.  Say 'irregardless' and you probably chew tobacco.<\/span><\/p>\n

11. I couldn't<\/em> care less, not: I could care less.  Almost as moronic as (9).<\/span><\/p>\n

Yahoos  seem naturally to gravitate toward double negative constructions which they use as intensifiers.  For example, 'I can't get no satisfaction' to mean can't get any<\/em>.  'No' here is an intensifier not a  negator.  "Nothing ain't worth nothing, but it's free."  (Kris Kristofferson)  This double negation as intensification is probably what is going on in (9) and (10) as well. <\/span><\/p>\n

In each case, though, the speaker conveys his meaning.  So does it matter whether one speaks and writes correctly?  Does it matter whether one walks down the street with one's pants half-way down one's butt? <\/span><\/p>\n

In the Italian language, the double negative construction is not only not incorrect, but mandatory. That ain't no shit. Italians are famously good at doing nothing. La dolce vita<\/em> and all that. Dolce far niente<\/em> (sweet to do nothing) is a favorite Italian saying.  My paternal grandfather Alfonso had it emblazoned on his pergola; me, I've been meaning to do the same for my stoa.  I just haven't gotten around to it.<\/span><\/p>\n

'We do nothing' in grammatically correct Italian is: Noi non facciamo niente<\/em>.  Literally: we don't do nothing.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Related:  Quantificational Uses of 'Crap'<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Theme music: Too Much of Nothing<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Addenda<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

12.  Tenter hooks<\/em>, not: tender hooks. (Via Monterey Tom)<\/span><\/p>\n

13.  Old fashioned<\/em>, not: old fashion.<\/span><\/p>\n

14.  Ceteris paribus<\/em>, not: ceterus paribus, which confuses the \u2018-ibus\u2019 ending with nominative. It is an ablative absolute construction \u2018with all else equal\u2019. (Via London Ed.  Latin: Don't throw it if you don't know it.)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is an updated version of a language rant first published in October 2013. …………… You've  heard of the Soup Nazi.  I'm the Language Nazi. And that's my cat, Heinrich.  1.  Toe the line, not: tow the line. 2.  Tough row to hoe, not: tough road to hoe.  3.  Rack one's brains, not: wrack one's brains. 4.  Wrack and ruin, not: rack and … Continue reading “Frequently Misused Expressions”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-language-matters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5346\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}