14 Expressions Even Native English Speakers Get Wrong

Hi, everybody.

Welcome back to www.engvid.com.

I'm Adam.

Today's video is a little bit special.

The main purpose is to help you feel comfortable with your mistakes.

Now, why can I make you feel comfortable with your mistakes?

I'm going to show you some expressions in English that even native English speakers,

people born and raised in an English-speaking environment, make mistakes with.

Now, these are very common expressions, but a lot of people simply say them incorrectly,

and they don't even realize that they're saying them incorrectly.

Because when you hear it, it's one thing.

When you see it written out, it's something else.

And a lot of people don't realize where the expressions come from, and so they say it

wrong.

Now, a lot of other people might not pick up on it, but people who are very aware of

the language will notice it, and it's a little bit annoying, to be honest, but it's very

common at the same time.

So, for example, some people say, "I could care less."

If you tell them some information, some news, and you think that it should bother them,

and they say, "I could care less."

Or you should help your mother, "She doesn't need my help, and I could care less anyway."

The problem is that the right expression is "couldn't".

"I couldn't care less" means I really, really don't care.

But if you could care less, that means you can go less in your caring, which doesn't

make any sense.

If you couldn't care less, you're at the most "I don't care you can be".

Right?

So, it's a very interesting expression, but again, very, very common.

So, for your own use, make sure it's "couldn't care less", not "could care less".

Now, this one's a little bit interesting, and the reason it's interesting is because

it is so common that it's almost not wrong anymore.

"Regardless", like if you say, "I will visit my friend regardless of his condition", like

let's say he has COVID or he's sick or something, a lot of people say "irregardless".

They're almost making it like a negative.

The problem is "regardless" already means a negative, like I don't...

What happened before the situation doesn't really bother me, but they add the "ir" because

they think it makes it more of a negative situation.

Now, the problem is, first of all, the correct way is just "regardless", but again, because

it is so common, it has become accepted as correct; not technically correct, but acceptable

enough to be used, and even the dictionary will list "irregardless" now to show you basically

what it means.

"For all intensive purposes", basically it means, like for example, somebody asks me,

"Did you finish the project?

Did you finish your work?"

"Oh, for all intensive purposes" means, yeah, basically it's almost completely done.

As far as you're concerned, you can say it's finished because tomorrow it'll be done, right?

Now, the problem is it's not "intensive", "for all intents", and "for all intents and

purposes".

Basically, for what you need, yes, it's finished.

For your intent, for your purpose, I can say the job is finished.

By the time you actually need it 100% completed, it will be 100% completed.

But for now, it's about 98%, but you can start working on the next project because you have

enough stuff.

"For all intents", all your intentions and all the purposes, done.

Anyways, let's go on with the next part, right?

So, a lot of people say "anyways" and it should just be "anyway".

There's no such word as "anyways", but again, like irregardless, so common, you'll hear

it, you'll even see it a lot of places that it's become accepted and even considered correct

in terms of usage.

"Anyway" means, okay, forget the past, forget what happened before, let's continue with

what's going on there.

Okay, so next we have "self-depreciating".

Now, first of all, depreciating means lower in value.

So, for example, if you buy a car and you start driving it, its value, financial value,

monetary value, starts to depreciate, starts to go down.

But we don't say this about ourselves.

We don't lose value.

We are always the same.

Other people might judge us differently, might judge us less or more, but we can't actually

do that to ourselves.

So, the correct word is "self-deprecating".

If we are self-deprecating, it means we are putting ourselves down.

If I say, oh, I'm really bad at this or I'm really bad at that or I really look bad today

or I'm so fat, I'm so skinny, I'm so this, whatever, everything that I say negative about

myself is self-deprecating.

I am putting my...

I'm lowering my own value in my own eyes.

Right?

And that's...

Again, it's easy to understand why people might confuse this word, because it's still

lowering level, but you're not losing any value.

You're the same person anyway.

Okay?

Then, this one is very commonly misunderstood, because first of all, the word "patriot" means

someone who loves their country or is very loyal to their country, and if you're an expatriate,

it's like you don't love your country anymore because you moved to a different country.

But that's not really the situation, here.

So, the correct word, and it's usually just one word, "expatriate", now, if I say this

as a verb, which means to remove someone from a country, is "to expatriate".

To expatriate someone.

But as a noun, I am an expatriate.

It sounds the same as this, which is why a lot of people confuse it.

So, this is the correct word.

So, I'm Canadian.

If I go live in another country, for example, let's say I go to live in Korea, in Korea,

I'm an expatriate.

In Canada, I'm just...

I'm a patriot.

If I move back to Canada, I will repatriate myself in the country.

And that's the word.

So, that's why don't use this word, even though it sounds right.

To nip something in the butt.

Now, first of all, "butt" is, you know, your bum, basically.

It's a slang word for bum.

To nip means to, like, cut.

So, generally, before something grows too big to control, before, especially a bad situation,

before a little bit bad situation becomes a very bad situation, you want to nip it in

the butt.

"Butt".

There's no "but" on this thing, so the correct word is "bud".

So, when you think of a flower, think of a rose, it starts off with, like, a little...

This guy, little bead of a flower, and then it blooms and becomes a full flower, right?

That's the bud.

So, if you don't want this to grow and become a bigger problem, you nip it.

You cut it off, and the problem is gone, right?

And that's the expression, yeah, "bud", not "but".

Okay, and let's go.

Peace of mind.

Now, "peace of mind", this expression can work, but it doesn't mean the same as "peace

of mind".

Peace of mind, with a "e-a-c-e", means you're comfortable, you're relaxed, you have no doubts,

no regrets, everything is okay.

Peace of my mind, if I give you a peace of my mind, means I will tell you exactly what

I think, right?

So, I'm going to give you a peace of my mind, here, and I'm going to tell you that you're

doing this wrong, wrong, or you're doing this, that, the other way.

So, I'm giving you a very strong opinion with a peace of my mind, but with a peace of mind,

you can have peace of mind, you've done everything correctly, don't worry about it, relax.

That's what that expression means, but again, they sound the same.

Sleight of hand, if you think about a magician, they're holding their cards, and suddenly

the card disappears.

It didn't actually disappear, they just moved it somehow without you seeing it.

Now, the problem is, it's not "sleight of hand", it's "sleight of hand".

Some people would say "sleight" as well, this way, so it sounds the same.

It's basically a trick, and we can use this expression with all kinds of things where

you don't actually, you don't actually know what happened, somebody tricked you, but you

just didn't see it.

They used "sleight of hand" to trick you into whatever they tricked you into.

I think most people understand this expression, "first come, first serve", except the problem

is this expression, like this, doesn't actually make sense.

It's "first come", the first person to come will be the first person to be served.

First come, first served, right?

Very easy to understand how people make this mistake, the "d" is not very prominent, but

that's the correct way to say it.

Whoever is first gets the first service.

"Wet your appetite", so if you go to a restaurant, maybe you'll have a little aperitif or you'll

have a little appetizer.

The purpose of this aperitif or appetizer is just to get your appetite building, right?

To sharpen it.

So, you're not making it wet, just because you're drinking alcohol doesn't mean you're

making your appetite wet.

If you're having some bread, nothing wet about it, right?

So, the correct word is "wet".

To wet something generally means to sharpen, like you wet a knife, you sharpen it on a

stone.

You wet your appetite, you make it stronger or sharper, make your...

Help you enjoy your meal a little bit more.

"Deep-seated", actually, usually there'll be a hyphen if you're using it as an adjective,

but if it's not an adjective or if it comes at the end, then obviously no hyphen.

So, a deep-seated trauma or a deep-seated problem means that it's inside you and it's

very deep and very difficult to change or move, except it's not a seed like a flower,

it's deep-seated.

Now, generally speaking, when you end a word with a "t-e-d", the "t" often sounds like

a "d", so people think "deep-seated", "deep-seated", so "deep-seated", "deep-seated", it almost

sounds the same, so people think this is their correct word, but in fact it's this word.

It's sitting deep inside of you and very difficult to get out or change.

Hunger pains.

If you don't eat for a while, you know, your stomach will get a bit tight and maybe make

some noise, so a lot of people think this is hunger pains, but it's not really painful,

it's just your stomach telling you, you know, put something in me, feed me, feed me, so

it's not "hunger pains", it's "hunger pangs", which sounds similar to "pains", which is

why a lot of people confuse them.

And again, remember, native English speakers make these mistakes all the time, so if you're

making mistakes in English, don't worry about it, we all do it.

And case and point, so all of these examples are cases in point, not "and point".

A case and point is something that you use as an example to support a bigger argument

or explanation or point, as the case may be.

So, these are just some, there are obviously a lot more, but these are very common ones

that I thought everybody should understand.

And again, if you're making mistakes in English, no problem, people will generally let you

explain yourself so that you can actually be understood, and that's the key of communication.

Don't try to be perfect, try to be understood, right?

And that's the key.

And don't feel bad about whatever mistakes you're going to make.

I do it, my friends do it, everybody does it.

It's all good.

So, if you have any questions about this, you can ask me at www.engvid.com in the comments

section.

There's also a quiz if you want to refresh your understanding and memory of these and

see if you understood them correctly.

And again, feel free to use questions, and if anybody does make this mistake as you're

speaking to them, let it go, don't worry about it too much, it's all good.

Come back next time, I'll give you some more examples of good expressions to use with natives,

and hopefully get you more confident as well.

See you then.