Sign language? That's mano a mano.

Often I'm accused of not knowing half of the things coming out of my mouth when I talk. Not so. I'm just naturally this lovable.

But Reader's Digest is pretty certain all of us are pretty lost on everyday speech. They have a list (never shall an arbitrary list pass my judgment unseen on here) of 24 Things You Might Be Saying Wrong. The fact they say "you might" suggests they're not even sure themselves.


Some of the 24 things:


1.) Saying Could care less
     When you mean Couldn't care less.

Well, maybe I could care less. Do I care that there is another Twilight movie coming out eventually? No. But could I care less? Maybe. Give me a second to think about it.

...

Yup, I could care less. I realized there was a smidge inside me that cared. In a few minutes I'll have cared less.

2.) Saying  mano a mano
     When you mean man-to-man

Apparently adding vowels to English words doesn't make them suddenly turn Spanish. This is a huge blow to your drunken Uncle Frank and his yearly stereotyping of Spaniards at Christmas dinner.

Mano means "hand" in Spanish. You've been telling people you want to talk hand-to-hand, kind of like in a Bruce Lee movie, minus the bloodshed and karate chops to the neck.

Now, granted, you might be suggesting to someone you want to reenact scenes from Enter the Dragon. But there's just a good chance they want to talk though.

3.) Saying Try and
     When you mean Try to

The issue? This is wrong:
"Uncle Frank is going to try and make rude jokes."

What's correct?
"Uncle Frank is going to try to make rude jokes."

But what Reader's Digest doesn't realize is that maybe Uncle Frank wants to accomplish two things. Maybe he wants "to try" rude jokes as well as "make" rude jokes. In which case, not only is Uncle Frank very stubborn, but he's single-handedly shaming the English language in a wide variety of ways.

4.) Saying Supposably
     When you mean Supposedly.

Reader's Digest says:
Supposably is, in fact, a word—it means "conceivably"—but not the one you want if you're trying to say "it's assumed," and certainly not the one you want if you're on a first date with an English major or a job interview with an English speaker.

As an English major myself, I've savagely mocked my first dates for the most imperceptible of differences in words.

You say you have a lisp, eh?

5.) Saying Beg the question
     When you mean Raise the question

Now this is just English acting snooty. It's stuff like this that makes math people hate us.