Weekly English Words with Alisha Commonly Misinterpreted Phrases
Welcome back to weekly words. My name is Alisha
and this week, we are going to look at commonly
misinterpreted phrases.
The first phrase is “I couldn’t care less”.
People will often say, I could care less but
that doesn’t really mean the same thing
as I couldn’t care less short for I could
not care less and it’s not possible for
me to care any less about this situation.
So it’s just emphasizing that whatever is
going on, it doesn’t bother you. In a sentence,
my co-workers project wasn’t successful
and I couldn’t care less. Jerk!
All right, next is “nip it in the bud”.
Many people say, nip it in the butt, it should
be “nip it in the bud”. Bud in this case
might refer to a flower before it blossoms,
that small shape before the flower actually
opens up. We call that a bud. So to nip something
would mean to take something quickly or biting
– taking motion. To nip something in the
bud will mean to stop something before it
becomes something else. Stopping something
negative from happening. Knitting a sweater,
coz I was knitting a sweater earlier. There
is a section of the sweater where the thread,
the yarn has started to unravel and you think
to yourself, oh my gosh! I need to nip this
in the bud. Nip this in the bud, so you decide
to fix it right away instead of letting the
sweater to slowly unravel as you work on it.
Next is “one and the same”.
Not one in the same. I am probably guilty
of this one actually. “One and the same”
just refers to something that is maybe has
two names but both of those names refer to
the same thing or the same person. My teacher
and my father are one and the same person
maybe you know if your dad is your teacher
in the school, you could use this expression.
“On tenterhooks”.
On tenterhooks is the next expression. This
isn’t a phrase that I am familiar with.
I don’t use this one but it seems that some
people use the phrase on tenterhooks. I am
not really sure what tenterhooks are. This
expression is used when people are looking
forward to learning the outcome of something
or kind of maybe there is anticipation. They
are anticipating something. Maybe you would
use this when you are watching a movie perhaps
like I was on tenterhooks to learn about the
end of the story, something like that, maybe.
Next “moot point”.
Not mute point, but moot point, something
that is irrelevant. Something that there is
just no point in talking about. It is moot,
there is no meaning. A moot point, a moot
point, that’s funny. I don’t know. Ah
let’s ask the internet. Hey Siri. Oh no,
okay you are looking for a guy to fill a position
and you find the guy and he is a great programmer
and he is fantastic but it’s a moot point
because he is a convict.
Onward. Ah that was the long one, end. That’s
the last one. Okay that’s the end of commonly
misinterpreted phrases. Be careful when you
use these phrases and make sure to get them
right. Thank you very much for joining us
this week. We will see you again next time
for more, bye.
Getting excited about something, anxious or
like looking forward to something. The origins
of this phrase are unclear.