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Incorrect idioms.


Pancake
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Just been reminded of a chap I used to work with that used to try and use idioms and saying in general conversation but always got them wrong:

 

"My PC has given up the goat"

 

"Well, lets make way while the sun shines"

 

Always used to crack me up.

 

Anyone got any others from foolish work mates?

Edited by Pancake
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and another thing that I was thinking about the other day.

 

I am sure the old and correct term was 'Splitting Image' and that has now become 'Spitting Image'

 

Can anyone confirm this.

Dear Word Detective: I'm in the midst of an argument with a friend over the expression "spittin' image," meaning look-alike. He insists that the expression is "splitting image." Which of us is correct? What is the origin of this expression? -- Linda, via the internet.

 

You are correct, although your friend's attempt to make "spittin' image" make more sense as "splitting image" (as if one person had split into two) merits an honorable mention. Your friend's version, incidentally, is a good example of a process known as "folk etymology," whereby an unfamiliar or seemingly nonsensical phrase, often very old, is altered slightly to make it more understandable in modern terms.

But the phrase is definitely "spitting image" or "spittin' image," meaning "exact likeness" and it's based on an earlier form, "spit and image," which first appeared around 1859 Just where the phrase came from and exactly what it means, however, is hotly debated in etymological circles.

Most authorities accept the "spit" element of the phrase at face value, and maintain that it is a remarkably inelegant metaphor for similarity: "just as if one person were spit out of another's mouth." A similar saying in French, "C'est son pere tout crache" ("He is his father's spit and image"), lends support to this theory, as do earlier English sayings with the same meaning, such as "the very spit of," which appeared around 1825.

 

The late poet and etymologist John Ciardi, however, maintained that "black magic" lay at the root of the phrase. Armed with a sample of someone's saliva ("spit") and a doll made to resemble the person ("image"), goes the theory, a sorcerer could cast all sorts of evil spells on the hapless victim.

 

Yet another theory regards "spit" as a shortened form of "spirit," but there is no real evidence for this, and it sounds to me like another "folk etymology" effort to make a very weird phrase slightly less weird.

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Guest Dark Sotonic Mills
and another thing that I was thinking about the other day.

 

I am sure the old and correct term was 'Splitting Image' and that has now become 'Spitting Image'

 

Can anyone confirm this.

 

Donkeys Years is another one like that, it started as "Donkeys' ears".

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i've noticed a few people recently using the phrase "if you think that's gonna happen, you've got another thing coming"........i am right in thinking that it should be 'think' not 'thing', aren't i??

 

Hmm thats a good one. I can see both sides.

 

Another thing coming as in, if you think a is gonna happen you have another thing coming ie b.

 

Although with think...

 

Another think is coming as in, whats coming is not what you expect, which will cause you to think again.

 

I would personally say it makes more sense with thing rather than think but I can see it both ways.

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