Please state in which country your phrase tends to be used, what the phrase is, and what it should be.

Example:

In America, recently came across "back-petal", instead of back-pedal. Also, still hearing "for all intensive purposes" instead of "for all intents and purposes".

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[–] 34 points 2 years ago (1 child)

Discreet vs Discrete used to crack me up on dating sites. All those guys looking for discrete hookups - which kind of makes sense but I am sure is not what they meant.

I literally ground my teeth today because I got an email from a customer service person saying "You're package was returned to us". Not a phishing email with an intentional misspelling, a legitimate email for a real order I made. If it is your JOB to send messages like this they ought not have misspellings.

So the context matters to me. I am more tolerant of spelling errors and mis-phrasing in everyday life than in a professional communication.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    they ought not have misspellings

    Wouldn't it be "ought not to"?

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Why no! In the negative (ought not) you don't need the to.

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