| These really bug me. You know,
timeless sayings that get butchered by some guy on
TV (usually he's employed by ABC's Monday Night Football, in my experience) that
end up propagating into common speech. I hate that. To quote Mikey from the
movie Monsters, Inc., "If you're going to insult me at least you could
get it right." Here are some of my most-hated butchered sayings. And yes, I
suppose I could lighten up a bit, why do you ask? He told a bald-faced lie. Get real, what the hell is a bald face? Bald head, bald eagle, maybe even bald mountain. I suppose I could tell a bald-headed lie under the right circumstances (actually, no I couldn't, I'm lying ☺). But I've never heard of a bald face. It's supposed to be Bold-faced lie. Remember from the "Always Give the Right Answer" piece? You know, when you lie, say it with confidence? A bold face, no? (eh? for our Canadian friends). It doesn't mean someone shaved & plucked before lying. That's ridiculous. Who would ever believe a word someone said if he/she had just shaved & plucked for the occasion? Plus, I'm really kinda sensitive about the bald thing, and I wish folks would just get this one right, ya' know? He needs to get un-tracked. Huh? Let's think this one through. What uses tracks - trains? Sometimes tanks and excavation equipment? What happens when they get "un-tracked?" Bad, bad, bad things. Why would we wish these bad things to happen to someone ("he needs to become a train wreck")? Plus, what do you do when a train does get un-tracked? Why, you put it on track again. Makes sense, eh? (no? for our Italian-American readers). So why do I hear, every Sunday, that some team or quarterback needs to get un-tracked? (no, not because I don't have a life and I watch too much TV -- that's not the right answer). Let's get on line. This actually is meaningful, but in a vastly different context from how it is used. Substitute the word queue for line here (no reason, I just like words with four consecutive vowels). Do you ever get on a queue? Of course not; you get in a queue. When someone says "Line up," are they telling you to get on a line or get in a line? C'mon! Unless there's a freakin' line painted on the floor, you are getting in line, not on line. You had to go on-line to read this drivel. Understand the difference? They were running around butt-naked This one I can almost see (uh, you know what I mean). As far back as I can recall, though, it used to be buck-naked. Not sure when it officially got changed, or who is in charge of such things. I admit, this could be a fine point here - butt-naked still makes one hell of a lot more sense than bald-faced. Still, the only dressed Buck is a dead one. Truthfully, I think this got started just because people like saying the word "butt." Reality check time: have you ever observed butt-naked bald-faced liars get un-tracked and then get on line? You're just as likely to track bald butt-faced liars and line 'em up, AFAIC. Still, just my ever-so-humble opinion here. |
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