Random Linguistics, confused turn of phrases

[Nagelfar]

Anyone have an idiom they've used get mistaken for another similar one in either that it alludes to how it sounds etc.

I'll post examples: once while in lockup I said to my cellmate that I was "rubbing elbows" with certain members of a white prison gang. It came back around that I was 'butting heads' with them. It was the first thing on that stint I should have not carried.

Idiom = idiot

 

[alasdairm]

"the proof is in the pudding" annoys me because it's meaningless compared to the correct version "the proof of the pudding is in the eating".

also, given we're in a thread which is about mistakes it's "turns of phrase" not "turn of phrases"

alasdair

 

[xxfreak187xx]

"Have you'r cake and eat it too" annoys me, why the fuck would I want cake if I can't eat it too

 

[Xorkoth]

Yeah that one has always bothered me since I was a kid. At first I accepted it, thought, yeah adults say that all the time, it must make sense. But as I thought about it... well, I guess it sort of makes sense, if you eat it you don't have it anymore. But it's still stupid as the entire point of having food is to eat it. Why would you indefinitely keep a cake? That would be stupid, cakes aren't to look at.

Nice thread idea.

 

[xxfreak187xx]

This one is:D

 

[Joey]

I could care less. Proper form is couldn’t.