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Haha, at some of the funny examples but you know, fellas, over time if some of these misheard, misused or misspelled or spin-off versions become more and more common, they might become the standard in the future (though who knows which ones).
Some of the words we use now in the most common forms came from "incorrect usages" that become so common, that the "correct" form is lost or forgotten and the new form becomes "correct".
For example: data is supposed to be plural (the singular form of it is datum), so originally you'd say "the data are correct", not "the data is correct" -- now, most people just use data in singular form anyway and don't necessary think of it as plural.
Another one is "hopefully". There was fierce debate over grammatical change for this word in the decades of the last half of the past century. It used to be said that "Hopefully, she waits." was incorrect if you meant "I hope she waits". It was supposed to be used as an adverb the way you'd use a word like quickly, happily, or suddenly, so "Hopefully, she waits." would mean "She is waiting, while full of hope".
But now, more people use it the former way than the latter, and hardly anyone considers that usage incorrect now.
Haha, at some of the funny examples but you know, fellas, over time if some of these misheard, misused or misspelled or spin-off versions become more and more common, they might become the standard in the future (though who knows which ones).
Some of the words we use now in the most common forms came from "incorrect usages" that become so common, that the "correct" form is lost or forgotten and the new form becomes "correct".
For example: data is supposed to be plural (the singular form of it is datum), so originally you'd say "the data are correct", not "the data is correct" -- now, most people just use data in singular form anyway and don't necessary think of it as plural.
Another one is "hopefully". There was fierce debate over grammatical change for this word in the decades of the last half of the past century. It used to be said that "Hopefully, she waits." was incorrect if you meant "I hope she waits". It was supposed to be used as an adverb the way you'd use a word like quickly, happily, or suddenly, so "Hopefully, she waits." would mean "She is waiting, while full of hope".
But now, more people use it the former way than the latter, and hardly anyone considers that usage incorrect now.
Good points. I forget who it was--an editor--who had a sign over his door that said, "Abandon Hopefully, all ye who enter here."
One of my writing teachers used to flag "hopefully" if I used it.
Wow, it took me a long time after reading that post to understand the punchline, and realize it was "dachshund".
I wouldn't normally pronounce dachshund anywhere near what I'd think doxin would sound like so that really threw me off, until I noticed the word dachshund in the image link.
In fact, my other thought when it came to reading this and trying to find the clue was sounding out "doxin" which I thought might be pronounced and sound something like "dogs in" so maybe they meant to say "dogs n' puppies for sale", as if they were saying they're selling adult dogs alongside their young ones.
I was about to google "doxin puppies" too to see if maybe there was something spelled like doxin that had anything to do with some condition the puppies had, or some special criteria like that.
Not sure if it's been mentioned, but "except" getting confused with "accept." Huh?
At a Gulf gas station last year in Boston, the sign affixed in a frame on the exterior proudly boasted, "Gulf credit cards EXCEPTED here."
To their credit, it was corrected in a reasonable time with a corrected sign.
But it was probably posted at all Gulfs in the country! (or would it be Gulf's, according to some?).
"Affect" and "effect" are two others commonly confused.
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