Phrases gone wrong

[lissyl78]

Was listening to Stuart Maconie on radio 2 talking about the phrases that people get wrong. He said that someone confessed to thinking that the saying was 'no rest for the whippet' and used it frequently until very recently!

What's the best wrong saying you've heard?

[wchottie4u09]

Ok My best guyfriend left me a comment on my website to a pic that said "sleepy time!" He posted "Dont let the sugar plum fairy bite!" (Dont let the bed bugs bite) yeah i know strange but funny lol

[lissyl78]

My sister is the worst when it comes to saying things wrong. The one that tops them all is 'a rut in a hut' instead of stuck in a rut. Unbelievable x

[Sequin]

In a meeting last week someone referred to something being "the sherry on the cake" - rather than the icing on the cake, or sherry in the trifle (or even cherry on the cake)

[depressedmgl]

A long time ago, we were broaching the subject of homosexuality with our son, to which he replied, "well I'm not a shop-lifter".  I think he knew more about the subject than we thought!

[magabsb]

My Wife (who is Brasilian) has an astounding knack for getting sayings wrong, including "if you go out in the rain you will get burned"??,"jack the stripper" (not a phrase but funny anyway. The list is far too long(I could get a book out of them!). 

[beetucks]

The word people use wrongly all the time is pacifically meaning specifically. I hear all sorts of people - who should know better

[Clare A]

It's easy to get things wrong in another language. Some examples:

The English guest who wanted to compliment her hosts on their home-made jam. 'How nice to have jam without preservatives', she thought she said. Unfortunately, 'preservatifs' is French for contraceptives.

The Times journalist married to a Czech man thought she should join in his family's conversations more often. Her 'I can't see, the sun is in my ears' had them rolling around, as did the intention to say 'She isn't hungry', coming out as 'She hasn't got a castle'. Of a pet terrapin.

My own Dad (retired) at his Italian class, when asked what did he do, meant to say 'I don't work', but said 'I don't wash'.

[cherrybomb]

It was only a while ago that I found out from my cousin that when we were children and she used to stay at mine for dinner she thought we were eating some new meat and told others she had tried chomberous flan in fact my mum had cooked a shoulder of lamb.

Not a saying but it still makes me laugh

[Limeycat]

Not the best, but the mis-use that really annoys me is when people say "off his own back", when they mean "off his own bat" (which I believe derives from cricket, meaning "by his own exertions")...  don't know why, but it REALLY grates on me!

[Grunty]

A high-ranking police officer once said he had visited a cottage that had a clitoris growing up the front door (clematis).

[Philtaz]

My wife comes out with one evry few weeks or so.  To date, her two most notable have been:

Spending money hand over foot(should be hand over fist) and getting everything done in one fowl swoop(one fell swoop).

To digress slightly we once saw a young bloke walking out of a local hotel.  He was wearing a red sweatshirt with a large white cross in the middle.  My wife asked "Do you think he works for the Red Cross"?  I said "No, I think he comes from Switzerland".  Now you know what I am dealing with here!

[sweggie]

an old boss of mine used to refer to a simple job that hadnt been done properly by mixing up brain surgery and rocket science by saying 'it's not brain science!' he never understood our sniggers and maintained he used to say it on purpose 

[calleach]

An old friend of mine who is losing the plot slightly told he thought he had "old timers "( alzheimers) disease.

[Kay]

My friend who's Polish was describing a character in a tv programme who had been convicted on the grounds of " Foreplay"....Foul Play:---))

[Kingaroo]

Here's a page full of them -- I like "smokes like a fish" and "half of one, six dozen of the other."

http://www.stevewhite.org/stuff/Helenisms.html

[RipedForskin]

X girlfriend was fantastic at the.

 

how about "If I wasnt here Id be someplace else"

and

"I think Ill go fully contraceptive" yup she dropped her self in it all the time

[joko]

it's annoying when people use the phrase 'a sight for sore eyes' as an insult to an ugly person, when in fact it means the person - or thing - is very beautiful so its like a soothing balm for sore eyes.

when I was little i was always a bit miffed when tv announcers said the next programme was for 'young of you-ers' as i knew it didn't sound right, but figured it was just a phrase. obviously i later realised it was 'younger viewers'