12 Notable English Language Mistakes

[@MentalFloss]

We just rediscovered (through rather convoluted means) this videol! kzbin.info/www/bejne/noOwg3abhqd0gas if you'd like to be mildly annoyed 38 more times (although I believe one entry is a repeat)

[@phosphorus4]

I was going to mention that video before……

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

Somehow I missed this one, and it's one of my favourite topics! Anyway, I just wanted to point out two things. The gif pronunciation - I heard the best answer to the argument fairly recently. Pronounce the G like it's Dutch. That means the G starts at the back of the tongue against the roof of the mouth, and a harsh blast of air gives the required tone, much like a hard *ch* as found in *loch,* not as in *choose.* It's a very guttural sound. Put any Dutch word, preferably starting with G, in a translator/dictionary which gives audio files for each word, and you'll hear what I mean. You'll also learn that Vincent's last name was pronounced more like *ch-o-ch* (the O is similar to that in *or* - obviously without the R!) You'll end up with *ch-iff* and it's bound to get you some seriously weird looks! One other thing, Hollingshead is an extant surname, and it's pronounced (by everyone I've heard use it, but that still leaves room for arguments) Hollings-head. Not Holling-shed. Just an FYI. Don't you just love English? ;) It's its quirky nature which makes me so fascinated by it.

[@g3heathen209]

I am going to start using Dord as measurement of density from now on. "That rock is so heavy, it must be at least 12 dord!"

[@jphilb]

Then it should have a volume reference. 12 dord/tablespoon would be much denser than 12 dord/hogshead.

[@phosphorus4]

@@jphilb What?…then it would be a mass( or weight)…

[@g3heathen209]

Dord per cubic inch or Dpri pronounced derpy!

[@giantsquid2]

LOL

[@lightsideofsin8969]

The inventor of the GIF format saying how he pronounces it did not change my mind in the slightest. "I recognize that the council has made a decision but given that it's a stupid ass decision, I've elected to ignore it" -Samuel L Jackson

[@user-yb3rs5wh6z]

Squib is still used to this day for anyone that handles firearms. Squib, like a dud that didn’t ignite the gun powder and the projectile progressed partially down the barrel.

[@MentalFloss]

I've also heard it used in the context of special effects in filmmaking. When you want to make it look like a gunshot hit someone, you often use a "squib." (Which I assume is a very small explosive charge.)

[@otis7847]

I've also heard it used to describe non-magical folk that are born to a magical family.

[@jphilb]

@@otis7847 Ariana was not a squib!

[@VegetableMigraine]

There is sometimes a seatbelt squib that fires in an accident to yank your seatbelt tight.

[@otis7847]

@@jphilb She wouldn't have been able to deal with those punks if she was. Too bad she lost complete control though.

[@90rohancd13]

"I could care less" makes my entire body tense up

[@AmberWool]

My husband's family says, "Six one, half does the other." My grandmother finally figured out they meant, "Six of one, half dozen of the other."

[@frankhooper7871]

In my family, we used to call a present a 'sixer' if the giver would receive as much enjoyment from it as the receiver - based on that saying.

[@cm374787]

Unirrigardlessly, I still use some of these.

[@nolansykinsley3734]

When I was a kid the saying was "I could care less, but I would have to try" and then the "But I would have to try" fell off as a show of apathy, as if saying the last part was putting too much effort into something you don't care about.

[@MentalFloss]

Haha. So by caring too little, eventually you could care less.

[@seanmalloy7249]

Or the more snarky retort, "Like I could care less."

[@dehydratedwater9806]

@@seanmalloy7249 I couldn't care less

[@doddjustin]

I before E except after C is such a WEIRD and often incorrect expression.

[@MentalFloss]

That is wierd.

[@UniqueornBacon]

I before E except when your foreign neighbor Keith receives eight counterfeit beige sleighs from feisty caffeinated weightlifters. Weird.

[@wezul]

I before E except after C, or when sounding like A as in Neighbor and Weigh. Unless it's weird.

[@criskity]

@@wezul Seize him!!

[@AmberWool]

When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking is also curious.

[@shanewright2772]

Fun Fact: The guy who proofread Hitler's speeches was the original grammar nazi

[@phosphorus4]

……Was he though?…… …The original, I mean…

[@LynnnnnnnnnN]

omg! This made me laugh so hard!! Just brilliant!! thank you! 😂😂😂

[@LynnnnnnnnnN]

@@phosphorus4 so are you like the joke nazi? Cuz that was meant to be funny and make you laugh. You weren't supposed to take it apart and examine it to see that it all fit perfectly to make it 100% accurate. You were just 'sposed to laugh 😉

[@amangurjar1996]

I had subscribed for a long time ,without watching a single vid but now finally got to it and it was great.

[@amangurjar1996]

Just feel like these kind of vids are sort of a niche ( or may appear so ) on youtube , so it may take some time to gain some momentum to gain audience .

[@UniqueornBacon]

Thanks to Harry Potter the use of Squib has seen a sudden rise in the last 20 years. A guy on twitter called Stealth Mountain used to go around correcting people who said "sneak peak" but they've been quiet lately. Steve Wilhite's degree was in computers, not in language. End of story.

[@TheRealE.B.]

"Stealth Mountain." :D

[@BertGrink]

I vehemently agree about Mr. Wilhite.

[@talideon]

"I could care less" is peculiar to American English and exists because of a phonological quirk: it's pretty common for the final 't' in the contraction -n't to be reduced down to a glottal stop (the sound of a catch in your throat). As the remaining unstressed syllabic 'n' sound often ends up wearing away, this leaves it difficult at times to tell the difference between, for instance, "can" and "can't" in casual speech. And that's how you have have somebody say "couldn't care less" and have somebody hear that as "could care less". English speakers outside of North America don't have that as a feature of their varieties of English, so to the rest of us "could care less" sounds even more egregious than it would to an AmEng speaker.

[@jennygibbons1258]

I've never understood that American version of 'i couldn't care less' Another nonsensical expression: 'everyone can't be'...(eg President), which means nobody can be, rather than 'not everyone can be President'.

[@kevinmorphet8083]

Maybe the most articulate delivery of an incredibly difficult script. The whole thing was tongue twisting and my brain hurts. Thanks!🤓

[@wezul]

"Squib is obsolete these days." - Are you sure about that? I thought SFX crews were still using this term? | Also, surprised you covered "Couldn't care less" (which makes more sense IMO) but not "suspension of belief/disbelief." I personally prefer the latter, though I hear it's incorrect. | Finally, thank you for covering peek, peak, and pique. Many people forget or don't even know the third version exists!!

[@MentalFloss]

Yeah I think we got the wording wrong re: squib. It's more like "squib is now confined to specific contexts, but..." ...Would you buy it if I said we intentionally threw in our own mistake in a playful nod to the topic of the video? ;-)

[@Capjedi]

The ' suspension of disbelief,' is key to seducing the audience into rapt attention. Otherwise, they'd simply disbelieve everything they witness, knowing, 'it's only a movie.' This is particularly true with the evening news!

[@Peer_Review]

I'm pretty sure suspension of disbelief is the correct version. I've never heard of suspension of belief and wouldn't know what context to use it in...

[@wezul]

I agree that "Suspension of Disbelief" makes way more sense. We are putting our disbelief in a thing on hold so we can enjoy it. But I was told that you are suspending BELIEF.. which I don't understand how that is supposed to make any sense at all! It was explained to me once, but I don't remember anything other than "yeah that still doesn't make any sense to me." Plus everything I can find online says it's "disbelief" so I don't know where/why the alternative popped up.

[@ScootrRichards]

Also: meek, meak, and meke. Meek is a word, the others aren't. :)

[@luisleme1416]

Squib is not obsolete, at least not in the shooting world, where squib load or squib round refers to a cartridge that detonates with much less power than expected-a “poof” instead of a “boom.” It may signal a dangerous condition, where the bullet-the projectile-has become lodged in the barrel due to the underpowered charge behind it; firing another shot into the plugged barrel may result in the barrel or action exploding.

[@TheIslandwaters]

Language is meant to communicate. If words illicit an untraditional meaning and is commonly understood and understood clearly, it should be defined as it is used. Stew originally meant a prostitute, hence brothel, but when we say stew, we know that we're talking about soup.

[@1973Washu]

Dictionaries are descriptive rather than prescriptive. They describe a language that people use even if the people are idiots...

[@Nukle0n]

Never, ever heard anyone say "a damp squid"

[@cantorcarl]

Besides a Squib being a nonmagical offspring of magical parents (opposite of a muggle-born wizard), a squib is a cartridge from a gun that doesn't fire.

[@spyone4828]

Re: "I could care less" I read a persuasive article that said it is actually sarcastic, and a form of sarcasm derived specifically from Yiddish. They found that most people say it with the same intonation they use for "I should be so lucky", which traditionally means "I could not possibly be so lucky".

[@misdirections]

You know what I've noticed a lot of people writing in the last 10 years? "OF" instead of 've or have... as in "I should OF picked up that dollar" - instead of "I should've" or "I should have" It doesn't even make sense as OF

[@sreside94]

Ooh, that one hurts me each time I see it >.

[@dollhousemakr]

I have a friend who does this. I just have learned to read it as "have", but it does irritate me anyway.

[@kenbrown2808]

and the only time you ever see someone write "you're" is when they're writing, "from you're friend" or similar...

[@kenbrown2808]

and don't get me 'started on the forever damned overu'se of the gratuitou's apo'strophe when writing a plural.

[@BertGrink]

@@kenbrown2808 And the same people will say things like "your a dumbass if you don't get that"

[@AveryMilieu]

Besides my sewing room, the Unfinished Project that has lived longest in my mind is what we called "The Freeway to Nowhere" in San Jose, CA. You'd drive under this elaborate truncated overpass that towered over the traffic on US 101and didn't connect with anything. Something like that in San Francisco connected with the Bayshore Freeway. I'm talking about the 1970s . Haven't driven in that area recently, so I have no idea what happened to these architectural wonders, but they were landmarks...

[@PeacefulPagoda]

Jodorowsky's Dune. It was supposed to be this incredible piece of cinematic art, with all the mind-flaying aspects of the novel, and Jodorowsky's specific flair. It wasn't technically finished, in that it just never made it to production, I think.

[@Astro_Owl]

I was going to comment this project too! I watched a documentary about it about a year and a half ago.

[@GhostBear3067]

Having learned English as a second language my take is the only rule in English spelling/grammar is THERE ARE NO RULES!!!

[@Thepurrletarian]

Their hour know rules

[@bazanime]

Every language has rules otherwise you can speak any language by just saying anything that came out your mouth. Thing is today there is little to no correction in outside of formal life settings, so the mistakes become the norm. The comment above is an example. If you know English well enough you can decipher the meaning of the the comment, but of cour you can see that it's not written correctly because you know the rules. So where you can, just keep to the rules, it helps people that know the language understand you better which aids communication.

[@jennygibbons1258]

There are. However, there are very few good teachers.

[@phosphorus4]

……There are layers to the rules…I guess… ……Rules, and rule breakers…… ……Some words follow a trend, others don't follow it……

[@kenbrown2808]

actually, just the opposite - we use all the rules, just not consistently.

[@1jotun136]

All in tents with porpoises. It was a wild time.

[@puirYorick]

I also see all intensive purposes. Frightfully, these goofs are now appearing in formal professional works.

[@GodsTeeth]

Erin, or Mentalfloss, how long did it take to design your set? Or are you just great at home fine furnishing?

[@TheFinktron]

1.A squib is a small explosive charge used for special effects in movies. It also used by gun enthusiasts in reference to gun malfunctions. 2. One of my favorite non-errors is flammable and inflammable. Both mean that a substance can be burnt. Their derivations come come different languages, so they are both correct. 3. I have read that butterfly comes from flutter by, which makes sense, but I don’t knew if that is true.

[@richardlewis4849]

I care a lot about how careless people are saying they could care less.

[@delusionnnnn]

Both are correct enough. "GIF"'s closest English cognate is "gift", so it's the closest thing that comes to mind for most people. What an acronym stands for has little influence on how the word is pronounced - GEOS, or "Graphical Environment Operating System" was always pronounced with a soft-g, for example, because "geo" has lots of common soft-g cognates in English. The creator of a word often has very little influence on how it's pronounced, let alone the final say. End of story. In my personal experience, most people who have been saying it for a long time say it with a hard-g, and the ones who have been saying it a long time but use a soft-g are the sort of people you rarely want to have an amusing discussion with.

[@ANDROLOMA]

Graphic Interface Format. "Graphic" is pronounced with a hard "g."

[@ObservantHistorian]

Some of my pet peeves: Supposably; Valentime's Day, "kew-pon" for coupon (there is no way to get a "kew" sound out of that word); exspecially; and the pretentious use of "utilize" when "use" is meant - these words don't mean the same thing!

[@ajc389]

What about the term "horseback riding"? You have to ask what other part of the beast's anatomy would you ride on? Horse face riding maybe? Actually just riding would suffice.

[@stphnmrrs3982]

A Confederacy of Dunces which is an incredibly funny and insightful book by John Kennedy notable has several failed film adaptations attempts with actors like John Belushi, John Candy, Chris Farley and Divine slated to play the main character Ignatius. All of those actors died before before being able to take part.

[@angeluslupus]

Comparing the older video to this one confirms something for me - Recent Metal Floss intros have the music a lot quieter than the rest of the audio!

[@Marjorie_Fisher]

One building that was never completed was the Kongresshalle in Nuremberg. It was intended to be a coliseum-esque grounds with the intention to be imposing and make the individual feel small. The building was started in 1935, but was never completed due to WWII. You can still visit the ruins today.

[@e11aguru]

Spelling out a contraction as "of" is a pet peeve of mine. "Should of" etc.

[@HasekuraIsuna]

[grammar rage intensifies]

[@fatstar111]

Americans say (and I don't know how to spell it) "I fell off of the wall". Why you's put off twice? What's wrong with "I fell off the wall?" Also what is axe as in axe a question? Never heard of ask?

[@galaxiaad]

I've also noticed that "off of" is only an American thing (though "I fell off the wall" sounds fine to me too). But tell me, why do Brits add the extra "done" at the end of sentences like "I would have done"? 😉

[@fatstar111]

@@galaxiaad I would have done doesn't even sound all that wrong to me or all that awkward. Belfast nails it with "so I do" or "so it is" at the end of sentences. I like curry so I do. It's freezing so it is lol

[@ellynmacgregor8210]

@@fatstar111, I'm with you on "off of." Not only do some people use that stupid phrase instead of plain "off", but they also use it in place of "from," as in "I brushed the dust *off of* my coat" (why not "from"?) and--this one really makes me grind my teeth-- in place of "on". Example: "WEST SIDE STORY was based *off of* ROMEO AND JULIET." AARRGGHH! What, may I ask, is wrong with "WEST SIDE STORY was based *on* ROMEO AND JULIET"???

[@denton151]

I feel like the camera was so close I was staring, no! Gazing into the window of your soul! It was a beautiful moment🥲. I will cherish it forever. Oh and great info I learned so much.🤣😂

I always took I could care less as meaning that the speaker cares a little.

[@Shrifbun]

For an incomplete project, look up the I4 eyesore. It's a weird building that's been under construction for 2 decades.

[@StephenEckman]

I came here to say the same thing. It is technically called the Majesty Building, but it is a classic piece of Orlando folklore now.

[@ANDROLOMA]

Strunk and White: The Elements of Style. The ultimate authority.

[@lohphat]

I always use “ ‘s “ as the possessive for words ending with “s”. It pisses people people off, but I then refer them to S&W.

[@glamgirlsg]

Things that were never finished, off the top of my head: Mount Rushmore, Charles Babbage's difference machine, all of my WIPs, Hitchcock's 1971 movie Kaleidoscope.

[@markmilkman9512]

For the next episode you should talk about the Majesty building in Altamonte Springs...aka the eye sore of I-4.. Abandoned Florida › majesty-buildi... Majesty Building: The I-4 Eyesore | Abandoned Florida

[@markmilkman9512]

Sorry there was supposed to be a link there but there are many articles about this.

[@alveolate]

how about the "all X are not Y" instead of "not all X are Y" as in: "all geese are not black" instead of "not all geese are black" like, a corrupt use of the more classical "all hope is not lost" but in extremely mundane and clearly logically-off usages. for those who are confused... some geese ARE black. you can't say "all geese are not black", cos that's an _absolute negative_ which is why it's illogical/wrong.

[@BertGrink]

Even the renowned linguist J. R. R. Tolkien used a similar constuct in Bilbo's verse about Aragorn: "All that Glitters is not Gold".

[@keithmichael9965]

A squib is still used in movie special effects to produce small explosion or explode packs of stage blood, ect.

[@sutton9331]

I am going to use the word dord as often as possible.

[@SpyridonTheWonderWkr]

Surprised this didn’t include the common misuse of “methodology.”

[@MentalFloss]

Ugh, yes. I'd put that in the same category as use/utilize (at least in the vast majority of cases). There's a better, simpler word just sitting right there!

[@dubya13207]

Dord reminds me of Jehovah, which is a translation error Also, I’m slightly disappointed in the lack of relevant IT Crowd shout-out

[@drewadrawing]

The Bridge to Nowhere in the San Gabriel Valley in California is unfinished! They started building it in 1936 but in 1938 the "Great Flood of Los Angeles" washed out one of the roads it was going to connect to so they just abandoned the project.

[@Vonliktenstien]

Sufjan Stevens' missing 48 states was quite the unfinished project. Michigan and Illinois were the only lucky states that got albums from the musical artist. I'm still holding out for Oregon, though.

[@MentalFloss]

Had to Google this. In my head, he had just made all 50 of albums lol.

[@Quinnknights]

Miriam Webster just keeps legitimizing incorrect usage of words. There are no rules, linguistic anarchy! Up is down, left is right and oranges are blue! *babbles in the corner rocking back and forth*

[@sharacasey4071]

*merriam-webster

[@Darxide23]

If legitimizing incorrect usage is acceptable then words have no meaning. I really do hate it. The dictionary's job is to define words and if a word begins to be used incorrectly or a misspelling or bastardization of a word (such as irregardless) becomes common in usage, the dictionary's job should be to point out the fallacy and then point to the correct term. By omitting the fact that these usages are not correct, the dictionary is aiding in making words meaningless and that's some kind of irony, isn't it?

[@columbus8myhw]

The dictionary's job isn't to tell you how to speak, it's to help you understand other people's speech.

[@Hedgeworth]

Yeah I'm just glad as a non-American, the Merriam-Webster is regarded as roughly on par with Urban Dictionary in terms of propriety.

[@axelasdf]

@@Darxide23 I'll recommend Word by Word, authored and read by Kory Stamper.

[@ronthesinger]

Unfinished project: "BalikBayan #1" (English: Repatriate #1) by filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik. Production is still ongoing after 41 years.

[@twisted_introvert]

"Could/n't care less" is a big pet peeve of mine! So are homophones. I've stopped reading books if the grammar was too bad, even if I was enjoying the story; the pain isn't worth it. 😅

[@sogghartha]

fun fact: in Dutch, to thaw is 'ontdooien', which.. yes, looks very much like unthaw. thaw - dooi, plus a prefix meaning un.

[@emilchandran546]

Projects that failed: in late 1928 building began on the Holy Name Cathedral in Brisbane, Australia. It was supposed to be the biggest Christian church in the Southern Hemisphere. However, due to the Great Depression, bungled investments in an oil company prospecting in Roma, Queensland the project stalled. The project went nowhere for decades. The Archbishop died in 1965. It was formally abandoned in the 1970’s. The land was eventually sold, and today “Cathedral Place” an apartment complex is located on the site. There is also a small square called Cathedral Square, but will never be a cathedral’s square. All that remains of the original design are the stone walls which are heritage listed. There are probably heaps of better projects to cover. But this is probably Brisbane’s biggest. That or the high speed rail connecting Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. That gets brought up to every few years only to be shot back down again. Anyway thanks for the video.

[@geoschwa]

First one I've watched in a long time. Erin should do this more often

[@OurayTheOwl]

This just sounds like people who are bad at spelling convincing people who don’t know any better they’re right.

[@Darxide23]

You just described Twitter.

[@SpacePatrollerLaser]

You have no idea of how many times I've seen "would of" for "would've"

[@denton151]

Ummm "would have" also works where people often use "would of".

[@renaudbardet6699]

A lot of movies were never finished but please talk about Alejandro Jodorowsky’s adaptation of Dune, it was supposed to be such a beautiful piece of movie art and needs more appreciation

[@cantorcarl]

Something never completed: in 1988, Richard O'Brien (who wrote the Rocky Horror Show and the -Picture Show) created a sequel called "The Revenge of The Old Queen. This never got past the music and script phase and was never completed. So, "Shock Treatment" is the only sequel to the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

[@sam8204]

I’m assuming the unfinished Sagrada Familia goes without saying. Mozart’s requiem also comes to mind. Fermat’s last theorem is crazy though. He had this very simple mathematical theorem he came up with in 1637...kinda like a fancy version of the Pythagorean Theorem but with bigger exponents (I’m super oversimplifying there). Then he died before he could prove it (which you need in mathematics). The theorem was finally proven by this dude in 1996, but he had to use math techniques that weren’t around in Fermat’s time, so people aren’t sure what Fermat actually had in mind.

[@PopeBarley]

My pet hate is 'should of' 'would of' and 'could of', because it' literally the same number of characters as using 've (should've), and you can make it even fewer characters in casual settings by dropping the apostrophe, and it is STILL more accurate to its standard form

[@davidarnett5121]

Although I haven't encountered a ".JIF" file since the early 90s, it's still a valid image file format, which therefore causes me to cringe a little when I hear someone pronounce "GIF" like the "Jif" peanut butter brand.

[@seanmalloy7249]

"Choosy hackers choose 'jif'."

[@DeusExHonda]

Oh! I know a thing! Squib is actually used VERY often in the American Air Force as an unofficial term for part of the fire suppression systems in aircraft.

[@joehartmann3902]

Can you talk about /The Last Tycoon/, the unfinished novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, published posthumously, and the 1993 finished version of the novel published under the title /The Love of the Last Tycoon/, edited by Matthew Bruccoli?

[@Veerlejf]

the sagrada familia might be a good one for things that didn't get finished

[@sogghartha]

yet! they are still working on it.

[@tessat338]

I have a job that involves reading consumer complaint letters written by people in Pennsylvania. A word to describe something poorly made is "Shoddy" coming from the phrase "slip-shod" meaning not having one's shoes on correctly and thus being careless. However, certain people in PA who have obviously only ever hear the word spoken, but who have never read it, will spell the word "Shotty." At first I thought that is was just one person's misspelling but now I see it turn up fairly frequently. I suppose that means that Pennsylvanians have shoddy vocabularies.

[@Bflorio12]

Projects that were never finished: Jerry Lewis's THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED

[@Darxide23]

As I understand it, that one got finished but it was buried before it could be released.

[@BozheTsaryaKhrani]

Next will be about the history of Floccinouccinihilipilification

[@DarkClavier369]

For unfinished projects, maybe consider Wardenclyffe Tower?

[@CiaoRooster]

I could care less came to prominence later, but it’s first instance is slightly older. It’s origins are as I response to the question: “Who could care less than I?” “I could. I could care less.”

[@WilyWillyT]

Love the Weird Paul gif

[@e.regular3501]

Happy to see another Weird Paul fan :)

[@ScottJPowers]

It's GIF with a hard G. Jif, on the other hand, is a registered trademark of a brand of peanut butter.

[@joewilson3393]

Exactly. At the end of a word like magic gi is soft. At the beginning it's hard like gift.

[@wmdkitty]

THANK YOU! Jif is a darn good peanutbutter, too.

[@Cirieno]

@@joewilson3393 Giraffes would disagree. (disclaimer: I am a proponent of the hard-G)

[@Cirieno]

In the UK, Jif is a brand of kitchen cleaner. Probably best not to confuse the two.

[@gandaruvu]

@@joewilson3393 didn't know gin was pronounced with hard g. Also, using gift as a reference to how you pronounce gif is not helpful as well, since the "th" in though and thought are pronounced differently.

[@realspacemodels]

Unfinished project: the "I-4 eyesore" has been under construction in Orlando Florida since 2001. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majesty_Building

[@Nightthade]

For projects that never fully saw the light of day, gotta go with PT, even if it's late for Halloween. The fact that PS4's with it downloaded still go for hundreds of dollars and that it still tops horror game lists is baffling to me.

[@jamesslick4790]

I'm going with the "descriptivist" view with regard to dictionaries. Dictionaries are NOT meant to be a "bible" of the "correct" use of words. They are to meant to give definitions of words as they ARE USED. Every time someone complains when a new word (or new use of an existing word..) "makes it" in to the dictionary, It's the complainer that is wrong. Written/Spoken languages are not MATH. There are no "absolute truths" in language. It's a living thing, defined by HUMANS not NATURE. P.S. I, myself might NOT be the best writer, or even be able to make a compelling argument, But my own daughter is an ENGLISH TEACHER 😳...She also agrees with the "descriptivist" view when it comes to dictionaries. 😲

[@jslezak57]

My biggest pet peeves is when people say: "CHOMPING at the bit" when it's "CHAMPING"

[@KassMcCormack]

The 2nd half of the Pop Century Resort at Disney World (the Legendary Years) was never finished and eventually was replaced by the Art of Animation resort.

[@madsa91]

Forte could also be Italian and the pronunciation would be exactly the one that you gave in the video. The meaning is strong!

[@t71024]

For all intense and porpoises, what was the difference between "imagin" and "imagine" again?

[@lohphat]

My paternal grandfather always said “forte” to “forté”l. In his memory I maintain the tradition.

[@Kavanaugh_Kohls]

Man, sometimes I feel like that first dictionary editor who wasn't listened to for 8 years.

[@breadman32398]

I'm still hoping Covefefe sneaks into a dictionary the same as these.

[@InnocuousRemark]

I could care less if there's a difference between flammable and inflammable. It's irregardless.

[@phosphorus4]

There isn't really……

[@PhilGartman]

Literally no longer just means literally. It can also be used when something isn't literal. That's my "nails on a chalkboard" word. And it seemed to happen almost overnight. I have a feeling the rise of KZbin and other social media has accelerated changes in language. But I'm no linguist. Also you might have noticed that some of my sentences start with prepositions which I was taught was a no-no in school. But it's perfectly acceptable now.

[@MentalFloss]

Ha, I just finished using "literally" as an example in another comment. That one really bothers me, too, even though I'm generally willing to accept that our language evolves in all sorts of ways. I think it's the gall of making a word mean *literally* the opposite of its original meaning.

[@PhilGartman]

@@MentalFloss I begrudgingly except fluid language as well. 😕

[@pinkishtoast3561]

The use of literally as figuratively has been around since the Great Gatsby when Fitzgerald described the main character's heart as literally exploding. It used to be a really effective metaphor but thanks to overuse and society just hating young people, it is perceived as stupid and silly to ever convey something in that manner. It has literally been used in English for 100 years and people still complain about it.

[@TheRealE.B.]

"Literally" just an example of hyperbole. I wouldn't say the actual meaning of the word has changed yet. The other stuff you're complaining about is just formal written convention vs. conversational styles. That distinction has always existed. Just ask Mark Twain. The difference is that we spend a lot more time typing compared to speaking these days.

[@phosphorus4]

@@pinkishtoast3561 It sounds more literal in Gatsby…like…violent motion of the heartbeat… and………hang on a second…… Yeah……it seems like you can use it for…not really an explosion but like……You know …Maybe the second definition is actually metaphorical…………

[@carsonwieker]

It would be fun to see a more popular understanding of the spelling & pronunciation of the term "Et Cetera," commonly abbreviated "etc." The mispronunciation of the term as "Eck or Ex Cetera" seems to be common throughout the english speaking world, amongst all levels & types of education & professions. My theory is that people are just mostly familiar with the abbreviation "etc" & it's sometimes easier for our brain to switch the t & c into "ect" which ends up being interpreted into sounding like "eck or ex cetera" and people have just largely followed suit.

[@darrellcole6311]

Another word that is misused is "Inflammable", and "Flammable". They seem to be used interchangeably, but what I've heard is that Flammable means ability to burst into flames, and Inflammability is the opposite. So, which is correct? I personally use "Flammable ", when I mean that it has the ability to promote a fire.

[@seanmalloy7249]

I suspect that it's due to 'inflammable' being not "in + flammable", but rather an adoption of the French 'inflammable'.

[@yuumain264]

I thought your "forte" section was weird because if you google translate the two words they are spelled the same. If you translate Forte to English from French it says "Strong." If you translate Strong to Italian from English it says "Forte," so wouldn't that be more up to the preferred language of the speaker? (whether they know which language it is or not)

[@austinshoupe3003]

"Forte" in italian means strong. It picked up an association with "loud" because of its use in music. I'm not sure about the MF version of the history of fort vs forte, but I can imagine the mix up occuring extremely easily among musicians as the words are all a bit interchangeable and a musician would drift to the italian out of familiarity.

[@Apophis324]

Did Erin do some redecorating? It's more light this way ^ -^ This episode was nice too, quite interesting.

[@MentalFloss]

Haha good eye! Yep!

[@Apophis324]

Very nice ^^

[@knate44]

I literally thought the term was "Free Rain" and now the world makes just a little more sense.

[@Velata]

Projects that were never finished... What about the movie "Atuk"? It went through least three potential leads but they all passed away before the shooting started.

[@Dornul]

Never take proper use of language for granite.

[@MentalFloss]

That's sedimentary, my dear boy. (Hey, you try coming up with a pun for igneous.)

[@yevettew47]

🤣🤣

[@nathanzucker1907]

I like this presenter, nice words and talking.

[@rebeccacuthbertson1271]

For the unfinished buildings episode! There's a building in Orlando called the "I-4 eyesore" by locals but actually called the Majesty Building. It is the subject of memes and running jokes by locals and sticks out like a sore thumb in the skyline. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majesty_Building

[@tiffanymccarty4243]

My mom says "unthaw" all the time. I always say to her, "You are keeping it in the freezer then?" She gets so mad and then says back to me, "Bless your heart," just like a passive aggressive southern woman should. Point to mom. 😂🤣

[@jamesslick4790]

I use "jiff" for the file format (*.GIF) as that's what the inventor called it. Since I'm within living memory of the originator of it, That's what I'll go with. OTOH if others go with the other pronunciation, Cool. You do you. As long as my OSs (And NO it's NOT OS's, LOL) understand what it is, I'm good.

[@route2070]

I hate redundant words mostly since they (especially the "fancier " ones) frustrated me growing up. I thought why use this more complicated word when this simple one means the same thing and is potentially understood by more people. I then learned that English is has added words from different languages, sometimes as they are and sometimes bastardized versions. As well as different regions within a country, and different countries with the same language can add redundancy. That said I can still get annoyed when someone uses a word, I question it, and they give a one word definition....that is simpler, and in my opinion probably more well understood.

[@MentalFloss]

Yes! Some are, as you astutely point out, just interesting evidence of our language's varied origins. (We've worked w/ a great linguist, Arika Orent, who has videos on related topics.) But utilize instead of use? That's just to sound "smart" 99% of the time.

[@SomeGuyXG3]

I have a theory on why gif was meant to be a soft g instead of a hard g. Since a gif is a short video format, maybe calling it gif was meant to evoke a connection to the word jiffy. Using a hard g for gif, you would lose out on that connection (again, assuming if that was the intention).

[@TheCrisis99]

The Chicago Spire never really got started. Just a giant hole in the ground.

[@jamesslick4790]

"Squib" might not be well known by the general population, But It IS known in the firearm "world". A squib load is one where the powder charge of a round is insufficient to propel a projectile from the barrel of a gun. This is BAD NEWS if another round is fired AND the projectile from the "squib" load remains lodged in the barrel, It can cause a catastrophic failure of said barrel. (In other words, an explosion!). 💀