The English
language is old. Like, really old.
It's old
enough that its speakers use a good many idiomatic sayings that were thought up
decades or even centuries ago, and that use words people don't really say much
anymore.
That can
turn into a problem when those out-of-date words sound like other, much more
common words. Especially if the sound-alike word makes a certain sort of sense
in the context. Here's the thing, though: It's still wrong, even if it seems
right.
Take a look
at these eight examples of often-misused idioms and be sure to use the right
word in your own writing.
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Wrong: "She hung in there like a
trooper."
Right: "She hung in there like a
trouper."
Groups of
actors and dancers still travel around in troupes today, but not nearly as much
as they once did. Far more commonly discussed nowadays are military troops or
police troopers. It makes some degree of sense to think that a saying that
describes fortitude would refer to a tough cop or soldier, but it's actually
about the "show must go on" mentality of an actor.
Wrong: "Let's give him free
reign."
Right: "Let's give him free
rein."
We're
talking about offering someone full independence to make a decision, so it's
understandable that someone might think this saying would be about royal
authority. It's really about horses, though. When someone is riding, "free
rein" means they're allowing the horse to move about as it wishes. This is
simply applying that horse lingo to a person.
Wrong: "We'll tow the line."
Right: "We'll toe the line."
Folks are
used to talking about boats or trucks towing other vehicles using a rope or a
chain. It's easy to make the connection to this saying. The correct word is
toe. The origin of this phrase is cause for some debate. We might be talking
about the digits of a foot. Some say it's about kids lining up for the roll
call at school, others say it's about barefoot sailors lining up to stand at
attention. Still others say "toe" means to draw, as in a boundary
line.
Wrong: "She was chomping at the
bit."
Right: "She was champing at the
bit."
Once again,
we can thank horses for this idiom. It's got a pretty cut-and-dried meaning, in
that it's about figuratively chewing away on a metal mouthpiece, which would be
showing impatience or eagerness. In fact, "chomp" is a sort of
variant of the older "champ." They both mean noisily chewing on
something, but "champ" is the term that has long been associated with
this idiom.
Wrong: "Wrack your brain about
it."
Right: "Rack your brain about
it."
To "wrack" something is to wreck or destroy it. Sometimes, when you're pounding your head against a wall to come up with an idea, it can definitely feel like you're doing some damage to the old noodle. But the correct term here is "rack," which isn't related to the noun form of the word. The verb form literally means "to strain."
To "wrack" something is to wreck or destroy it. Sometimes, when you're pounding your head against a wall to come up with an idea, it can definitely feel like you're doing some damage to the old noodle. But the correct term here is "rack," which isn't related to the noun form of the word. The verb form literally means "to strain."
Wrong: "He'll get his just
desserts."
Right: "He'll get his just
deserts."
Sayings such
as, "Revenge is a dish best served cold," have created a sort of
connection between food and someone's getting their comeuppance. A lot of
people think this saying extends that connection, but it doesn't. The problem
is that "desert," which is a wholly separate word from the one that
describes big, dry, sandy places, is a homophone for "desserts."
Here, "deserts" means "what one deserves." That meaning has
almost entirely fallen out of use, except in this phrase.
Wrong: "I'm waiting with baited
breath."
Right: "I'm waiting with bated
breath."
Let's get
past the very confusing notion of how someone would bait his or her breath to
begin with and simply say that "bated" here is actually a
contraction, despite the lack of an apostrophe. The full word would be
"abated." The person is holding his or her breath, not attracting
something with it.
What are
some other idiomatic phrases you see people often getting wrong in their
writing?
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