100 Most Often Mispronounced Words and Phrases

Spade

Ace Poster
Nov 18, 2008
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Aether Island
'one off' is a manufacturing type phrase.Instead of a production run of 23000 items, you make a prototype, often called a one-off, because you run only one off the production line.Essentially, it refers to a unique creation. That car's just a one-off, they'll never make it into production.

Thanks, sounds reasonable!

Another peeve. I say "mum" and spell it "mum." Most people say "mum." Why has the "mom" spelling caught on?
 

VanIsle

Always thinking
Nov 12, 2008
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Thought that was 'run amok'.
It is run amok.
Is it splitting image or spitting image? To me splitting image means that if you think a person is the image of another, then it would be like splitting the person in two. What has spitting to do with it? I so often hear people use the term spitting image.
 

VanIsle

Always thinking
Nov 12, 2008
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Thanks, sounds reasonable!

Another peeve. I say "mum" and spell it "mum." Most people say "mum." Why has the "mom" spelling caught on?
I think the spelling Mom is used more frequently than Mum. Probably comes from the word Mother where the o is used rather than the u
 

Spade

Ace Poster
Nov 18, 2008
12,822
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Aether Island
Is it splitting image or spitting image? To me splitting image means that if you think a person is the image of another, then it would be like splitting the person in two. What has spitting to do with it? I so often hear people use the term spitting image.

I looked it up, but couldn't find anything definitive. But, I did learn an equivalent phrase in Norwegian is - "som snytt ut av nesen paa" ("as blown out of the nose of")
 

TenPenny

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 9, 2004
17,467
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Location, Location
It is run amok.
Is it splitting image or spitting image? To me splitting image means that if you think a person is the image of another, then it would be like splitting the person in two. What has spitting to do with it? I so often hear people use the term spitting image.

I believe the original was 'spit and image'
 

Cannuck

Time Out
Feb 2, 2006
30,245
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Alberta
It is run amok.
Is it splitting image or spitting image?

It's on that site I posted the link to. I always thought it was splitting image.
spitting image spit and image The very spit of someone is an exact likeness. "The spit and image" or "spit image" emphasizes the exactness.

spit definition | Dictionary.com

—Idiom 13. spit and image. Also, spitting image, spit 'n' image. Informal . exact likeness; counterpart: Hunched over his desk, pen in hand, he was the spit and image of his father at work.
 

In Between Man

The Biblical Position
Sep 11, 2008
4,597
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49° 19' N, 123° 4' W
Some are kinda funny! I would seriously have to ridicule a friend or coworker if they pronounced things like "bob wire" as opposed to "barb wire".

Or "bidness" instead of "business"... :lol:
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
75,301
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Vernon, B.C.
I think the spelling Mom is used more frequently than Mum. Probably comes from the word Mother where the o is used rather than the u

As I remember as a kid it was always "mum", just the way it sounds, I see "mom" became fashionable in the 50s and 60s, probably as a result of watching too much American T.V.
 

karrie

OogedyBoogedy
Jan 6, 2007
27,780
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bliss
What strikes me is that language is not a concrete entity. It is ever changing, constantly on the move. Things that have become perfectly well ingrained in our language were likely these exact same sources of annoyance. Take 'alright' for example. It gets used a lot now, despite being not quite 'all right'.
 

VanIsle

Always thinking
Nov 12, 2008
7,046
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I looked it up, but couldn't find anything definitive. But, I did learn an equivalent phrase in Norwegian is - "som snytt ut av nesen paa" ("as blown out of the nose of")
Spade:
I am so impressed that you not only took the time to look it up and I am especially impressed that since you could not find anything definitive, you went to all the trouble of finding an equivalent phrase meaning "as blown out of the nose of"! Thank you so very much but please - you really don't need to go to so much trouble next time. The phrase "I don't know" would have been just fine! ;-):lol::lol::lol::lol: