<p>bela, my favorite is mute point instead of moot point. It makes me laugh every time I see it since I’m usually wishing it was a mute point!</p>
<p>Haha! I love this thread! For the personal ad enthusiasts amongst us, how about: discrete and discreet?? I second the motions on affect/effect and principle/principal. Capitol/capital are similarly murdered.</p>
<p>I could go on forever – but I take umbrage to TourGuide’s disparaging remarks 'bout “don’t be hatin!” and “my bad.” Yo, dude – whazzup wit dat? That’s classic Americana, homey!</p>
<p>Wow, mathmom, that’s a double whammy! It’s interesting because it can mean something different, as in being mute on (about?) a specific point.</p>
<p>Not sure what category this falls under, but my H recently reported to me that a colleague said, “He doesn’t pass the mustard.” I think I laughed hysterically for about 10 minutes. But then I started to wonder if he hadn’t meant to say, “cut the mustard” rather than “pass muster”. So creative.</p>
<p>
Ah, but there’s the rub. Educated native speakers are generally not taught the rules appropriately.</p>
<p>My parents are from Europe. I remember when I was in elementary school and showed my mother a paper on which I had gotten an A. She looked at it and said, “How can this be an A? These words are all spelled wrong.” I said, “It’s social studies, Mom. Spelling doesn’t count.” My mother hit the roof. “What do you mean, spelling doesn’t count! Of course it counts! It always counts!” </p>
<p>I learned how to spell.</p>
<p>Or to quote Alan Jay Lerner (with thanks to George Bernard Shaw):
“Her English is too good, he said.
That merely indicates that she is foreign.
While others are instructed in their native language,
English people aren’.”
(Yes, I know it’s missing a final t, but the lyric had to rhyme!)</p>
<p>“Why can’t the English teach their children how to speak?”</p>