Would You Run That by Me Again?

Have you noticed people butchering our English language lately? I’m not talking about the usual sprinkling of ain’ts and he done its which come with country living. I’m thinking of the outright misuse of terms which sound close to the original word but miss it by a mile.

Many of these come from my children’s texting friends.

“Could you be more Pacific?” he asked.

"Be quiet! I'm trying to consecrate!" yelled Timothy.

“I’m so flustrated!” said the mother with several children.

“Let’s leave it that way for all intensive purposes” suggested the mechanic. “We mine as well.”

And these are only a sampling of subtle errors floating around our ears these days. We know those who used the right words but the wrong pronunciations. They're intelligent people; they just learned the wrong pronunciations. They celebrate Valetimes day (my spellcheck just revolted at that), and eat punkin pie.

Our family attended a high school graduation where the speaker congratulated the seniors on their grad-ye-ation. As one friend said, they need a sec-a-tary at that place.

We heard about one young mother who said, “Thank goodness for hammy down clothes.”

Another of our children’s friends posted that she attended a bombfire. (Glad she lived to tell about it.)

My daughter heard someone say she knew it from the gecko. (I think she meant get-go.)

So, what does one do as an English teacher when affronted by word atrocities? I guess just grim and parrot.

What about you? Any mispronunciations that make your teeth itch? Tell us about it below.