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.