14 Everyday Sayings You Might Be Getting Wrong

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While the English language may not be the hardest to learn, it can be easy to mess up some of its classic sayings.

These are called "eggcorns," a mispronunciation of "acorns" and defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “a word or phrase that sounds like and is mistakenly used in a seemingly logical or plausible way for another word or phrase either on its own or as part of a set expression.”

Here are some English phrases that people tend to get wrong:

  • 1) Saying "Nip it in the butt" instead of "Nip it in the bud."
  • 2) Saying "To pass mustard" instead of "To pass muster."
  • 3) Saying “Soaping wet” instead of “Soaking wet.”
  • 4) Saying “to all intensive purposes” instead of “to all intents and purposes”
  • 5) Saying a “mute point” instead of a “moot point”
  • 6) Saying “biting your time” instead of “biding your time”
  • 7) Saying “dull as dishwater” instead of “dull as ditch water”
  • 8) Saying an “old wise tale” instead of an “old wives’ tale”
  • 9) Saying “wheelbarrel” instead of “wheelbarrow”
  • 10) Saying “nerve wrecking” instead of “nerve-racking”
  • 11) Saying “illicit a response” instead of “elicit a response”
  • 12) Saying “expresso” instead of “espresso”
  • 13) Saying “damp squid” instead of “damp squib”
  • 14) Saying “on tender hooks” instead of “on tenterhooks”

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