100 most mispronounced words/phrases. There were a few I use that I hadn't known were wrong, most notably "spitting image."

For many of those, what a bunch of prescriptivist twerps infected with that unfortunate notion that the English are always right. The general smugness in the write up just made me desire to smack 'em. Hard. Probably with a copy of Language Change: Progress or Decay or The Language Instinct.

It's not. There is no such thing. Unless you can't get out of your house for the books.

I can't get out of my side of the bed for books, and I'm out of shelf space. I may have too many.

I can't get out of my side of the bed for books, and I'm out of shelf space. I may have too many.

I have six boxes of books in my hallway, my bookshelves are full to the point where the books are two layers deep. There's a pile of books on my nightstand, a pile ontop of my radiator and another pile on the floor. too many?

I'm honestly seriously considering getting a storage area.

For many of those, what a bunch of prescriptivist twerps infected with that unfortunate notion that the English are always right. The general smugness in the write up just made me desire to smack 'em. Hard.

YES! Me too. So, it didn't used to be "spitting image." It also didn't used to be "good bye."

Well, my other issue is that there are plenty of phrases/words in the list that are technically incorrect, but have moved into common usage, like persnickety. I bet that if you started using the "correct" pronounciation, folks would be correcting _you_ left and right.

I bet that if you started using the "correct" pronounciation, folks would be correcting _you_ left and right.

Like "forte" -- it's only supposed to be pronounced "for-TAY" when referring to music; when it's used to mean a strong point, it's supposed to be pronounced "fort."

And every time I've tried to use that pronounciation, I've gotten corrected.

m-w.com says:

In forte we have a word derived from French that in its "strong point" sense has no entirely satisfactory pronunciation. Usage writers have denigrated \'for-"tA\ and \'for-tE\ because they reflect the influence of the Italian-derived 2forte. Their recommended pronunciation \'fort\, however, does not exactly reflect French either: the French would write the word le fort and would rhyme it with English for. So you can take your choice, knowing that someone somewhere will dislike whichever variant you choose. All are standard, however. In British English \'fo-"tA\ and \'fot\ predominate; \'for-"tA\ and \for-'tA\ are probably the most frequent pronunciations in American English.

From MW

usage: In forte we have a word derived from French that in its "strong point" sense has no entirely satisfactory pronunciation. Usage writers have denigrated \'for-"tA\ and \'for-tE\ because they reflect the influence of the Italian-derived 2forte. Their recommended pronunciation \'fort\, however, does not exactly reflect French either: the French would write the word le fort and would rhyme it with English for. So you can take your choice, knowing that someone somewhere will dislike whichever variant you choose. All are standard, however. In British English \'fo-"tA\ and \'fot\ predominate; \'for-"tA\ and \for-'tA\ are probably the most frequent pronunciations in American English.

That's my favorite cross-post ever.

Jesse, holy mother of freakish X-posts.

You funny x-posting geeks!