Hare's breath

This drives me mad.

Tonight I watched a video from a well known bank about how to log onto their Internet banking site. I swear the actor said, "Pacifically", instead of specifically.

Sloppy diction is increasingly overlooked everywhere, including in the BBC and other broadcasters. There is no excuse for it.

This morning on good morning the newsreader actually said "kneeled" instead of knelt!!! Aaarrrgghh!!!

And news readers always seem to say 'terrist' instead of terrorist. Drives me crazy!

How about "the problem is is..." you hear it all the time!

I heard kneeled...ouch. I hadn't even had 2 cups of coffee before people earning a fortune to commuicate, were at it mis pronuncing.

I am ALWAYS going to say 'Hare's breath' now!

I think it has been used many times before and a search on Google confirms that and seems to make either version acceptable.

Kneeled is fine grammatically.
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Spitting feathers means very thirsty. Spitting fire/flames means angry. However quite often on TV you hear spitting feathers meaning angry! Why??!

Hare's breath - I like that!

mernice. I agree. Kneeled is more common in America but it is an acceptable form according to the major dictionaries.

annsixty I googled 'hare's breath' and most sites describe it as a malapropism. They do find their way into the language though - like abdicate responsibility for abrogate.

Well I don't like it - spits out dummy!

Not to mention "a damp squid" (aren't they all?) and "the proof is in the pudding."

One of our local newsreaders was referring to an item about "whooping cough". He said the word several times ,every time pronouncing the W as in wooping cough. I don,t think some of these newsreaders would have made the grade years ago.

What drives me potty is the use of the word "like" - e.g.: "you know like, I said to him like, what is it you want and he said well, like, I would mind a cheese sandwich" ugh.

Two things that really annoying me:
1) "The proof is in the pudding". Wrong. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

2). Why do people being interviewed insist on starting with "So......"

The specifically/pacifically error gets my goat and the use of 'disinterested' instead of 'uninterested' is a sad loss of a useful word meaning 'objective'. 'Can I get a coffee?' instead of 'Could I have a coffee?' is an irritating Americanism as is 'different than' instead of the (correct) 'different from'.

These have all been endlessly remarked on but the one solecism I have begun to notice that no one else has commented on to my knowledge is the odd usage of 'likely' as in 'He is likely absent' instead of 'he is likely to be absent'. Now I have noticed it I read and hear it everywhere. Perhaps it's me who's wrong or perhaps we have all just given up on the correct version as the incorrect one has become ubiquitous in the same way that 'Can I get?' has now passed into current usage.

Deteriation instead of deterioration - they say it all the time - drives me mad.

I know I've said before but Bregzit drives me round the bend! Presumably they say egzit instead of exit?

Hm999 Very interesting. I had always thought that spitting feathers meant foaming at the mouth with anger.

Agree totally with Shortlegs starting sentences with 'so' is my current pet hate. Read this am that 'so', 'like' and split infinitives are now acceptable! Why do we always seem to dumb down to the lowest possible denominator - because it's less hassle???

Lily flower, I have always said "may I have" rather than "can I have" or "could I have". Is this wrong?