What mis-stated phrases or words do you feel still need to be corrected (online or in person) in 2025?
Please state in which country your phrase tends to be used, what the phrase is, and what it should be.
Example:
In America, recently came across "back-petal", instead of back-pedal. Also, still hearing "for all intensive purposes" instead of "for all intents and purposes".
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You do things on purpose or by accident, you don't do anything on accident.
I will follow you into battle.
onto battle
unto battle
Outto battle.
For non native English speakers (such as myself), these things can get tricky. It can be difficult to know which preposition is right especially when in relation to non-tangible concepts such as time, accidents, or purpose. Please do correct them though, people eventually learn with repetition.
Look, I've been speaking English for work and pleasure for thirty years now and I'm here to tell everybody that prepositions in English are arbitrary conventions and it's all mostly fair game.
Unless you are trying to precisely identify the position of an object relative to something else, the "correct" preposition is a few years of consensus away from changing.
Our language is the offcuts of several others stitched together, to make some sort of coherent garbage.
Never feel bad about getting something wrong - most of the natives butcher it in their daily lives without a second thought.
The accents are wild too. I feel so sorry for new speakers that are confronted with Scots. The further north you go, the more unintelligible it gets to the basic English speaker.
I'm from Angus originally (not the very top, but close enough), but moved to Wales. There was a period of time where I could understand everyone, but found myself not understood by others.
Eventually my own accent settled into some sort of "Scwelsh" that works, but it's difficult for listeners to place me geographically.
Have a few bonus Welshisms for your trouble:
"I do do that I do" - I also do this
Whose coat is that jacket? - Who owns this coat?
Now in a minute - Could be immediately. Could actually be in a minute. Could be an hour from now.
I definitely understand that. But none of this thread is trying to hold non native speakers' feet to the fire.
I hope you know of that phrase. I just realized that's a saying that might not translate.
You're right, English is dumb, but I'd say 95% of the time it's native English speakers I hear getting this particular one wrong.
Sometimes I do things off purpose.
This, I can accept.
... or by purpose.
I do things with purpose.
