We're wrong when we're right - or is it the other way round?

[DickyP]

Just watching an advert on TV made me think about things we say - and all understand - but are actually 'wrong'.

Chicken Fajita - this is wrong because actually a Fajita refers to a tortilla filled with beef skirt (fajita means little skirt) and so a chicken fajita is a contradiction in terms.

Diamond Jubilee - assuming diamond to equate with 60 literally means "60th 50th Aniversay Celebration" as a Jubilee is some thing celebrated every 50 years!

England's 3 Lions which are actually 3 leopards.

I'm sure there are lots of other similar language usages.

[Kinoulton]

People use Light Year to describe a long period of time when it's actually a distance.

Quantum Leap is not a big leap, it's actually one of the smallest possible leaps.

I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't rain. Which means the opposite of what the person is trying to say.

[BJ.]

I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't rain. Which means the opposite of what the person is trying to say.

Staying with the subject and contrary to popular belief, ducks do not like the rain.

Also, "I'll reiterate what I just said." Iterate means to repeat whilst reiterate means to repeat a second time, i.e. say something three times.

[Kinoulton]

Apologies for misusing the thread, but I couldn't resist repeating that old Les Dawson joke about a consignment of Japanese car components being lifted off a ship in Hull and suddenly a massive wooden case breaks open and all these bits start falling down on the dock workers who exclaim: "Blimey. It's raining Datsun cogs."

[Rizzo]

Killer whales. They're not whales, they're actually members of the dolphin family, some wildlife presenters call them Orca now, but many still refer to them as killer whales because that's how the public know them.

[Bill W (2)]

In similar misuse of the thread, there is a sticky on the Fans Forum entitled PPREMIERSHIP FINAL TICKETS FOR SALE. I had not realised Sale were in the final - how come they got allocated tickets?

[DickyP]

Killer whales. They're not whales, they're actually members of the dolphin family, some wildlife presenters call them Orca now, but many still refer to them as killer whales because that's how the public know them.

On Vancouver Island they're always referred to as 'Black Fish' which seems a very good name.

[Old Hob]

Transportation: A sentence by a court to a period of penal servitude overseas.


Transport: buses, trains and stuff.

[DickyP]

Transportation: A sentence by a court to a period of penal servitude overseas.


Transport: buses, trains and stuff.

To transport is also a verb so transportation, which is in the OED as a derived noun is actually correct in the usage above: whats's missing is the rest of the wording wording of the court sentence which was 'Transportation overseas for penal servitude'.

This is therefore no more wrong that calling chipped potatoes chips.

[DickyP]

The point of this thread is those items where common usage means that something that is actually 'wrong' has become right.

There is a subtle difference between this and the list of common errors people make - but remain errors: such as the incorrect usage of 'reiterate' above.

The first is just of interest to nerds like me the second a cause of annoyance.

A common area of error of the latter sort is where people say 'amount' when the mean 'number', and 'less than' when they mean 'fewer than'. A related, but slightly different error was in Baz Bambigboye's article I read today about the new Dickens film where he described Ellen Ternan, Dicken's mistress, as 'more than half his age' - she was 18 and he 45 - when she was less than half his age.

[Kinoulton]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39Mx2qU1JiI

That "more than half" reference is excellently portrayed here by Lee Mack.

[TigrisLeicesteris]

Killer whales. They're not whales, they're actually members of the dolphin family, some wildlife presenters call them Orca now, but many still refer to them as killer whales because that's how the public know them.

On Vancouver Island they're always referred to as 'Black Fish' which seems a very good name.

Hate to knit pick but classification wise they are called Odontocetes or "Toothed Whales" which includes the Sperm Whale, Beaked Whale, Bottlenose and Orca. They are Whales but from a different side of the phylogenetic tree from the Baleen (modified hairs that act like teeth/filters in the mouth) whales, the ones we typically consider such as the Humpback and Blue

[TigrisLeicesteris]

Killer whales. They're not whales, they're actually members of the dolphin family, some wildlife presenters call them Orca now, but many still refer to them as killer whales because that's how the public know them.

On Vancouver Island they're always referred to as 'Black Fish' which seems a very good name.

Hate to nit pick but classification wise they are called Odontocetes or "Toothed Whales" which includes the Sperm Whale, Beaked Whale, Bottlenose and Orca. They are Whales but from a different side of the phylogenetic tree from the Baleen (modified hairs that act like teeth/filters in the mouth) whales, the ones we typically consider such as the Humpback and Blue

[DickyP]

Hey TigrisLeicesteris - don't be afraid to nit pick - that's what threads like this are all about.

[TigrisLeicesteris]

Can I come out yet?