You may not be a journalist, teacher or in marketing. You might not write often at work. You might not even have to talk much! But whether or not you're expected to be the most literary or word-savvy person in your organisation, it pays to know how to use the English language and all its weird and wonderful phrases correctly. They can be used to brighten up a sentence, add detail and colour to a story, or you never know, they might even feature in your next compelling cover letter.
They can be used to brighten up a sentence, add detail and colour to a story, or you never know, they might even feature in your next compelling cover letter.
Here are 10 commonly mispronounced sayings. (Hint: note them down and be sure to use them correctly next time!)
- Nip it in the butt. That sounds kind of painful, and we were pretty sure this saying didn’t have to be. “Nip it in the bud,” on the other hand, means to address or suppress something at a preliminary stage, when it hasn’t bloomed or got out of hand.
- Breach the subject. Whales breach, not us. The best thing to say when you’re ready to confront a colleague, or get stuck into a tough conversation, is that you’re going to in fact, “broach the subject.”
- A fragrant error. It doesn’t smell like lavender and roses, sadly, it’s just incorrect. The best way to nail this phrase is to say, “A flagrant error.” It means that an evident or even intentional mistake was made.
- Expresso. Close, but no cigar. All coffee lovers, or anyone who’s ever seen a coffee machine, shop, or cup should from here in know the word is “Espresso.” There are no tricks to remembering that one, but you should.
- It’s a doggy dog world. No friends, the dogs are not simply “doggy,” they actually might attack each other. The correct saying is “it’s a dog eat dog world.” Like every man for himself, it’s a phrase used to suggest that people will do anything to get their way.
- Statue of limitations. Again, this is wrong. There’s no marble beauty standing in a grand city somewhere representing limitations. It’s “statute of limitations,” and it’s a law which forbids people from being charged with a crime that was committed more than a specified number of years ago.
- I was their escape goat. Goats don’t commonly escape farms or enclosure, so that’s not where this saying was born. The accurate idiom is “I was their scapegoat,” and it means you were blamed for the problems or actions of others.
- Waiting with baited breath. This one got us – hook, line and sinker. But seriously, no fish, boats or rods required. It’s “waiting with bated breath,” and indicates that someone is anticipating something excitedly, with potentially limited breath.
- Chomp at the bit. You’d be forgiven for saying chomp, because it’s not a huge misnomer, but the real idiom requires you to say “champing at the bit.”
- Just desserts. It’s a sweet way to end the list, but unlike cake or ice-cream it doesn’t hit the spot. The correct term is “just deserts,” (or even deserves) which suggests that someone got their comeuppance, or put plainly, a bit of bad karma.
