Why do people use phrases they don't understand?

[hanoverphist]

HAHA!

I sometimes wonder if today's teenagers that call everyone a "douchebag" actually knows what a real douche bag is.

i just explained this to my teenage kids a few months ago. literally sneaky: )

Saying "on purpose" is almost always incorrect anyway. You should say "intentionally."

i hate "on accident". i hear people at work use it all the time.

 

[Mark R]

I hate it when people use 'beg the question' incorrectly.

In fact, I rarely hear it used correctly at all.

For example, it would be begging the question to state that the Sandy Bridge quick sync unit accelerates video encoding, because the quick sync unit is capable of performing video encoding quicker than the main CPU.

That the Quicksync unit accelerates video encoding does not 'beg the question' of how that acceleration is achieved, even though it may pose such a question.

 

[hzl eyed grl]

I have NEVER heard that before.

I have always heard of BMW's referred to as beamers. I have never heard of a bimmer.

MotionMan

I'm with MM. I don't think I've ever heard them called Bimmers.

i just explained this to my teenage kids a few months ago. literally sneaky: )



i hate "on accident". i hear people at work use it all the time.

What did they say when they found out what it really meant? lol

 

[MotionMan]

And you live in California? Wow, everyone I know calls the cars Bimmers.

Does "bimmer" rhyme with "dinner" (i.e the "i" is short)?

I have NEVER heard that before in my life (nor have the 4 people I just asked in my office).

MotionMan

 

[Ninjahedge]

careful now or I'll glass ya

Stuck up sticky-beak.

 

[Ninjahedge]

Can we stop talking about Bim vs Beam?

I mean GAWD! Geez! What the HELL?



Some mis-phrasing usually comes by either gross appellation of a slang term OR simple grammatical superposition. "On accident" sounds like an idiotic replacement of "by accident".....

Oh, as for "Begs the question"... I don't think I have heard the "beg the question" phrase used too often, but I have heard "Beg(s) to question" as a kind of permutation of the original...


BTW, there was a recent story on the overuse of colloquialisms and their effect on diluting the strength/impact of presentations and public dissartations... (Overuse of catchesims like "Vis a vis")....

Anyone else?