UK knows best
Think you're a good speller? So did I until I read this article from The Guardian. "Ancient English cliches and expressions are being mangled by the culture of cut and paste and the spread of unchecked writing on the internet. According to the Oxford English Corpus, a database of a billion words, dozens of traditional phrases are now more commonly
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Comments 6
strait-laced
font of knowledge
fount of knowledge
free reign
free rein (unless you're talking about horses?)
slight of hand
sleight of hand
phased by
fazed by
The Trekkie in me really wants to say "Phased by" is correct.
butt naked
buck naked
Okay, I think that "butt naked" and "buck naked" (as well as others like "buck nekkid") are right.
vocal chords Unless, of course, the writer is writing about chords that are vocalized.
vocal cords
How'd I do?
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I did not know "free rein" either: The original refers to letting a horse loose, but many use "reign" and assume the expression means to allow a free rule.
The Trekkie in me really wants to say "Phased by" is correct. Wouldn't it be "phasered by"?
I googled "phasered" and found 927 results, including this (which I just found funny):
Someone wrote me this week and asked what "phaser" stood for. Since I've seen several different answers to this question, and since it's spelled "phaser," not "PHASER," I replied that it was a word, not an acronym. This person then told me that it was a shortening of the words "phasered energy refractor." When I then asked this person where they got this information from, they couldn't (or wouldn't) say.
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straight-laced
strait-laced
font of knowledge
fount of knowledge (although me thinks this is correct)
free reign
free rein (although I usually spell it this way, but looking at "reign"...)
slight of hand
sleight of hand
phased by
fazed by
butt naked
buck naked (only corrected after I ran into the words in writing; then again, maybe I ran into the wrong spelling)
vocal chords (again, I probably spell it this way, but the other one looks correct on reflection)
vocal cords
Oh, who the hell knows?
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It's maddening, isn't it?!
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straight-laced
strait-laced*
font of knowledge*
fount of knowledge
free reign
free rein*
slight of hand
sleight of hand*
phased by
fazed by*
butt naked
buck naked*
vocal chords
vocal cords*
CAW
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C.
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