Your favorite misquoted idioms?

[pokerfan]

Taken for granite

A mute point

That doesn't jive

An escape goat

For all intensive purposes

Tow the line

A long road to hoe

In one foul swoop

Whoa is me

[Spider Jerusalem]

1. Evidence that people have trouble with homonyms.

Most of those drive me nuts. As does 'that doesn't phase me'.

[pokerfan]

3. What's wrong with that?

:rofl:



Don't phase me, bro!

[MineralMan]

4. And they have even more trouble with Houinyms, if I remember

my Gulliver's Travels correctly.

[surrealAmerican]

31. They weren't any trouble; ...

... it was the yahoos that were the problem.

[DeepBlueC]

17. that one really gets under my skin nt

[MineralMan]

2. I can't phantom it.

That's one of my favorites.

[Sanity Claws]

5. Got her dandruff up

I actually heard someone say that.

[ashling]

21. I use Tegrin for that

:shrug:

[pokerfan]

6. Prostate with grief

(actually I guess that could work...)

[Moondog]

7. Enlarged prostrate, or, had his prostrate removed. n/t

[ashling]

8. apparently California finally has a budget for this physical year

:rofl:

[hatredisnotavalue]

12. YES!!!

I was a reporter for many years and that mis-use of fiscal by elected officials drove me insane.

[ashling]

20. Did you ever ask any of them if they knew the difference

between physical and fiscal???

[Kali]

9. cut off your nose

in spite of your face

[madinmaryland]

10. "Casting asparagus" and "it's a doggie dog world"

[sarge43]

11. The exception proves the rule. n/t

[trackfan]

13. Nip it in the butt. n/t

[GreenPartyVoter]

14. Not an idiom, but I was taking attendance in the preschool/K Sunday School class this week and

when I called one little girl's name she answered, "President!" instead of "present!" :)

[pokerfan]

15. reap what you sew

[Petrushka]

26. rip what you sew

[mzteris]

16. i could care less

and

Let me "clearify" . . . :wtf: that's not even a word!

[Bucky]

23. Argh! I hate that one. Do people even think about what they're saying?

I had a girl friendin college who was from Armenia and she got figures of speech wrong all the time. But it was cute with her. Like she'd say "Scoop over" instead of scoot over if she needed more room on the couch.

[Terry in Austin]

35. Scoop over

Love it!

I like to collect malapropisms -- I always have to write them down quickly, though, because they're so hard to remember.

A neighbor of mine complaining about another neighbor:
"Oh, she's such a fish's wife! Sometimes she just screams like a banshee hen."

A guy I overheard at the gym:
"Yeah, those runners like to get their endomorphins going, gives them a high."

Same guy:
"He couldn't get those boys to quit bugging him -- they were just pernacious."


And unlike your Armenian friend, these are native English speakers.

[pokerfan]

18. statue of limitations

[KamaAina]

19. A stitch in time saves nine

it's nein. :eyes:

[GreenPartyVoter]

28. I always thought it was nine, and that it means better to fix a small rip now than

a big rip later? :shrug:

[Bucky]

22. People who have a "sneaking" suspicion instead of a sinking one.

[ShenandoahAspen]

24. ship on his/her shoulder. nt

[PassingFair]

25. What, pacifically, is your problem?

Irregardless of your opinion...

You are knitpicking with a fine toothcomb.

[mzteris]

27. "on the lamb"

saw here on DU last night -

:rofl:

[Terry in Austin]

29. Respectively submitted

Presumably signed by somebody with undiagnosed multiple personality disorder.

Some of my other faves:

Pull out all the punches
Couldn't cut the cheese
Heart over heels
Let the beans out of the bag
Get the bull by the tail
No kidding aside
Raging lunatic
Batter down the hatches
A tinker's damn
With baited breath
Hair brained
A fog in your throat

[Arkansas Granny]

30. I get all flustrated about that.

[woo me with science]

32. Not an idiom, but I get tired of hearing of the "tenants" of this or that belief system.

Tenants are people who rent from you.

[gmoney]

33. Not an idiom, but gave me a laugh.

A model e-mailed me wanting to "re create Dorothy Dandrith. A nice great gaspy look."

On her profile, she states: "I eat sleep and drink writing, that's who i am, that's what I do. I love it way pass a passion, it has just become me."

Good luck with that. :eyes:

[Pied Piper]

34. The first one on your list

was used frequently by one of my college professors. A PhD! Just guess how much I respected his opinions on the course's subject matter...

[jkirch]

36. Cut the mustard. nt

[Xipe Totec]

37. I could care less n/t

[Odin2005]

38. Moot and mute are pronounced differently

Mute has a Y sound before the vowel, moot doesn't. :hi: