NationStates Jolt Archive

It's not that bad, but doesn't it irritate you to see a good idiom misused. For example, an illiterate sportswriter at Yahoo! writes,

With less than 20 games left in most teams' seasons, who they play has as big a bearing as how they play. And the Chicago White Sox have the toughest road to hoe in the waning weeks of September.


Now, a tough row to hoe means something, even to non-farmers. But what the hell does or could "road to hoe" ever mean?

Any other misused idioms that catch your eye when you read them?

Now, a tough row to hoe means something, even to non-farmers. But what the hell does or could "road to hoe" ever mean?

Do you really want an answer to that?

It's not that bad, but doesn't it irritate you to see a good idiom misused. For example, an illiterate sportswriter at Yahoo! writes,


Now, a tough row to hoe means something, even to non-farmers. But what the hell does or could "road to hoe" ever mean?

Any other misused idioms that catch your eye when you read them?

Road to ho, it's the red light district.

Well, there are hoes in Chigago, but far more of the female variety than garden tools.

Road to ho, it's the red light district.

So a tough road to ho' is ...? Lot's of pimps in the way?

Maybe it's like the SNL skit

"A fine automobile is something to be admired - even adored. It's an extension of you. You love your car so much, you want to share your most intimate moments with it."

"Well, now you can. Introducing the Mercury Mistress, the world's first car that you can actually have sex with."

So a tough road to ho' is ...? Lot's of pimps in the way?

Well it's a bad neighborhood you see.

It's not that bad, but doesn't it irritate you to see a good idiom misused. For example, an illiterate sportswriter at Yahoo! writes,


Now, a tough row to hoe means something, even to non-farmers. But what the hell does or could "road to hoe" ever mean?

Any other misused idioms that catch your eye when you read them?

"For all intensive purposes." Okay, not technically an idiom, but annoys me anyhow. "Tow the Line" (it's TOE the line!!!!) is another one.

road to hoe could possibly be refering to road construction. in other ways they have to make their road to success.

http://www.grainfarmer.com/image57D.JPG

such equipment known as a back hoe can be used in road construction.

I'd imagine that "Road to hoe" is actually a corruption of "Row to hoe". And, a row to hoe makes far more sense. After all, gardens are typically arranged in rows.

Any other misused idioms that catch your eye when you read them?

'The Khartoum regime has launched a new offensive against rebels from the so-called Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) in Southern Darfur province. The epicentre of the fighting is the area about 70 miles south-east of Nyala, Southern Darfur’s provincial capital.'

Epicentre means 'place above the centre', you dumb fuck. What you mean is 'The centre of the fighting...'.

'The Khartoum regime has launched a new offensive against rebels from the so-called Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) in Southern Darfur province. The epicentre of the fighting is the area about 70 miles south-east of Nyala, Southern Darfur’s provincial capital.'

Epicentre means 'place above the centre', you dumb fuck. What you mean is 'The centre of the fighting...'.

There are few other words that get my attention faster than 'penultimate'. It seems like most folks want to use it to mean 'super-ultimate'.

'The Khartoum regime has launched a new offensive against rebels from the so-called Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) in Southern Darfur province. The epicentre of the fighting is the area about 70 miles south-east of Nyala, Southern Darfur’s provincial capital.'

Epicentre means 'place above the centre', you dumb fuck. What you mean is 'The centre of the fighting...'.

Maybe the fighting was underground?

Reminds a bit of that famous Creedence Clearwater Revival song that contains the immortal line, "There's a bathroom on the right."

If done properly and often mangled idioms can be good entertainment.

Yogi Berra was the king of this art form.


"Baseball is 90% mental -- the other half is physical."

"If you come to a fork in the road, take it."

"You give 100 percent in the first half of the game, and if that isn't enough in the second half you give what's left."

"I made a wrong mistake."

"This game is a real cliff dweller"

"This is like deja vu all over again."

Reminds a bit of that famous Creedence Clearwater Revival song that contains the immortal line, "There's a bathroom on the right."

You mean "there's a bad moon on the rise"?

You mean "there's a bad moon on the rise"?

:eek: What?!?!? :p

It's not that bad, but doesn't it irritate you to see a good idiom misused. For example, an illiterate sportswriter at Yahoo! writes,


Now, a tough row to hoe means something, even to non-farmers. But what the hell does or could "road to hoe" ever mean?

Any other misused idioms that catch your eye when you read them?

Well have you ever tried hoeing ground that had been paved over with asphalt? It's pretty damned tough.

The one that bugs the the most is "exception that proves the rule." The literal meaning of that statement is "it is the apparent exception that tests the rule." But people use it to mean "this always happens. It didn't happen that time, but that just proves it always does. Because sometimes it doesn't."

The other's that bug me are sort of the complete opposite of that. There they got the phrase right, but got the meaning wrong. The others that annoy me get the phrase wrong, but keep the meaning.

e.g. "I couldn't care less." i.e. I care the absolute minimum amount. Not at all. If I tried to care less, I would be opposed, which is taking more of an interest than I do. That is how great my indifference is.

Mangled American Version - "I could care less." It's used to mean the exact same thing as the above version, but it's incorrect.

"Each one more ______ than the last." i.e. The quality in question keeps getting greater and greater with each successive specimen.

Mangled American version - "Each more _____ than the next." Which would mean that the quality in question gets diminished with each successive specimen, but it's incorrectly used to indicate that things keep getting better.

There are few other words that get my attention faster than 'penultimate'. It seems like most folks want to use it to mean 'super-ultimate'.

Nah! They mean "so good, there's definitly going to be a sequel."

You have to admit. It makes a lot more sense than a videogame franchise with 14 sequels called "Final Fantasy."

One of them was even a sequel to a sequel. "Final Fantasy Ten, Two." And now there's "Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus" Not the subtitled sequel to Final Fantasy 6. No. The unnumbered sequel to Final Fantasy 7

when i read it i just thought he meant that they had a tough "road to hoMe" and just left out the m through a mistake... oh well

Maybe it's like the SNL skit

"A fine automobile is something to be admired - even adored. It's an extension of you. You love your car so much, you want to share your most intimate moments with it."

"Well, now you can. Introducing the Mercury Mistress, the world's first car that you can actually have sex with."

That's a sight I'd like to see just to find out what the added features are.:eek:

:D :D

It's not that bad, but doesn't it irritate you to see a good idiom misused. For example, an illiterate sportswriter at Yahoo! writes,


Now, a tough row to hoe means something, even to non-farmers. But what the hell does or could "road to hoe" ever mean?

Any other misused idioms that catch your eye when you read them?
dunno... with articles like this...
http://www.nbc.com/nbc/The_Tonight_Show_with_Jay_Leno/headlines/H_3205/H_3205_04.jpg
makes you wonder if it was misused.

Oh. And I don't know why I forgot about the obvious one. Mistaken use of the word "Irony."

The other day when "Crocodile Hunter" died it was mentioned on the wannabe news segment on the 700 club that he died shooting a film on stingrays "ironicly titled "Nature's Deadliest."

That's not irony. That's "Appropriately Titled." Not that I'd advise calling anything about a man getting killed "appropriate," but it would have been ironic if the film was to be titled "natures huggable little fuzzbunnies." Getting killed by something you called "Nature's Deadliest" is NOT ironic.

Oh. And I don't know why I forgot about the obvious one. Mistaken use of the word "Irony."

The other day when "Crocodile Hunter" died it was mentioned on the wannabe news segment on the 700 club that he died shooting a film on stingrays "ironicly titled "Nature's Deadliest."

That's not irony. That's "Appropriately Titled." Not that I'd advise calling anything about a man getting killed "appropriate," but it would have been ironic if the film was to be titled "natures huggable little fuzzbunnies." Getting killed by something you called "Nature's Deadliest" is NOT ironic.
Oh I freaking hate that too.

and that song....none of that stuff is ironic...I hate it.

Well have you ever tried hoeing ground that had been paved over with asphalt? It's pretty damned tough.

The one that bugs the the most is "exception that proves the rule." The literal meaning of that statement is "it is the apparent exception that tests the rule." But people use it to mean "this always happens. It didn't happen that time, but that just proves it always does. Because sometimes it doesn't."

The other's that bug me are sort of the complete opposite of that. There they got the phrase right, but got the meaning wrong. The others that annoy me get the phrase wrong, but keep the meaning.

e.g. "I couldn't care less." i.e. I care the absolute minimum amount. Not at all. If I tried to care less, I would be opposed, which is taking more of an interest than I do. That is how great my indifference is.

Mangled American Version - "I could care less." It's used to mean the exact same thing as the above version, but it's incorrect.

"Each one more ______ than the last." i.e. The quality in question keeps getting greater and greater with each successive specimen.

Mangled American version - "Each more _____ than the next." Which would mean that the quality in question gets diminished with each successive specimen, but it's incorrectly used to indicate that things keep getting better.


Those examples you made make as much sense you people (I'm assuming you're British) calling schools that are privately funded "public" schools.

As a college student, I am particularly fond of "As the night dawned . . ."
Don't know why, but every history teacher I've had since 8th grade has let that one slip at some point or another.

Those examples you made make as much sense you people (I'm assuming you're British) calling schools that are privately funded "public" schools.

Well, yes. I'm from Britain, but I've lived in New York for 20 years now. The closest I come to having "an accent" is that I don't sound like I'm from Brooklyn, where I grew up.

The "public school" thing does make sense, if a bit counter-intuitive to someone familiar with the American use of the term. Here we use the word strictly as a description of the source of funding.

In Brit-speak
Public schools are available to the public. It's not a misnomer. A hypothetical private school would be one that a group of people set up for their own kids, and don't make available to anyone else.

What Americans (sensibly) call public schools (meaning funded by public money) Brits (also sensibly) call "State Schools" because they're funded by the state. Also the public, but the names make sense when taken on their own.

The complaint about Brit-speak reminded me of another one.

The phrase "you have an accent." As far as I know, it is only in America where there is a notion of speaking with no accent. American's have accents. They have American accents. Even people from Nebraska, who as Stephen Colbert pointed out "sound like they're from nowhere. Which is pretty much true."

The only people in the world who can claim to have "no accent," are people who have to speak with those treach-boxes that make them sound like robots from a 1950's space western. Even Stephen Hawking, whose voice is a robot apologizes to people for his "American accent."

Oh I freaking hate that too.

and that song....none of that stuff is ironic...I hate it.

And that's the irony of Alanis Morissette's "Ironic". A song with that title contains no irony whatsoever. Now whether the then-21-year-old Canadian shrike did that on purpose or sincerely had no clue about irony is up for debate.

My contribution to the topic would be the one my former boss used. I was a civil servant for three years. County branch of a state agency (Licensing). Petty authority is a very big deal in civil service. The wrong person in charge will make the very most out of the very smallest bit of power they have. As a result, I never corrected my boss when she said:

"It's a mute point."

The point is not mute. A point is an intellectual construct; in and of itself, it cannot make noise of any kind, and therefore cannot be mute except metaphorically (given that "mute" is usually associated with something that usually does make noise being made or struck quiet or silent). The point, if it is rendered superfluous by other facts or circumstances, is MOOT. Moot means "of no consequence." I know it's a tiny and even understandable vowel elision, but it sounds so incredibly stupid that I had to bit by tongue whenever she said it.

And the other one, posted earlier: "all intensive purposes". Drives me batty. "All INTENTS AND PURPOSES...."

"For all intensive purposes, the car is totaled"

"Oh, so for non-intensive purposes it still works?"

Another one on TV is the PC vs Mac ads where the guy portraying the PC misuses "touche".

And the other one, posted earlier: "all intensive purposes". Drives me batty. "All INTENTS AND PURPOSES...."

"For all intensive purposes, the car is totaled"

"Oh, so for non-intensive purposes it still works?"

Another one on TV is the PC vs Mac ads where the guy portraying the PC misuses "touche".

For intensive purposes like driving along an unplowed snowy road, you should leave it at home, but if you're just driving around the corner, you'll probably make it. :)


As for Touche, I'm not entierly certain he did misuse it. Touche comes from fencing and it means that you scored a point. Assuming that the PC guy is aware of some sort of PC/Mac rivalry "thouche" could slimply mean "you win this round."