Do you or someone you know always get those expressions wrong? It's not "supposably" it's "SUPPOSEDLY"? Who are you, Joey from "Friends". But I just pointed it out, so now I'm the jerk.
Take notice of the common phrases we get wrong all the time:
1. "For all intensive purposes." No! It's "for all INTENTS and purposes." The other way is like saying, "for all these very thorough purposes," which makes no sense.
2. "Nip it in the butt." *buzzer sound* - WRONG! The correct phrase? "Nip it in the BUD," like a flower bud. The other way makes it sound like you want to BITE someone's butt. Which you may very well want to do, so I won't judge yo on that.
3. "One in the same." The real phrase is, "one AND the same," which means two things are alike. However the incorrect could possibly suffice as well - but it's still wrong.
4. "Case and point." Nice try, but its "case IN point." It's like saying, "Here's an example of the point I'm trying to make."
5. "I could care less." no, no, and NOPE! If you say it like that, you're really saying you DO care about something. The correct phrase is, "I COULDN'T care less," because you SO DON'T CARE AT ALL, so you couldn't care less than not caring at all!
Here's one more weird one for the road, that we ALL get wrong: "You've got another thing coming" is technically wrong. The original phrase was, "If that's what you think, you've got another THINK coming." We dropped the first part a long time ago, and now everyone says "thing." So in this case, you sound silly if you say it RIGHT.
Now go have an espresso. NOT an eXpresso!
Carla Rea
