The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #11381   Message #3497330
Posted By: Mo the caller
01-Apr-13 - 05:00 AM
Thread Name: Misspoken, misheard, but accepted.
Subject: RE: Misspoken, misheard, but accepted.
At a guide camp one of the girls was corrected for using a damp MUSLIM to keep milk cool.

In the UK there is a TV show called Countdown. A contest involving anamgrams and arithmetic. Between two of the rounds an expert from the OED talks about the origins of words. The first presenters of this long running programme used to tease viewers by saying "should of", knowing that people would write in and complain that they should of said "should have". The present numbers expert drives OH mad by "you times them". To people of our generation, although 4 times 5 is 20 you have to multiply them. But this expression is common with my daughter's generation. I suppose 4 times 5 is itself a contraction of 'add 5 four times'

So when does it stop being 'wrong' and start being part of the evolution of language?