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I saw a bit on Facebook about improperly used sayings which led me to some I’ve heard that aren’t used as originally intended. As an example, they listed this one that I’ve often heard people say, “You’ve got another thing coming,” rather than “You’ve got another think coming.”

Mom used to say that to me occasionally, as in, “if you think you can get away with that, you’ve got another think coming, mister.” Adding MISTER to it made it even more ominous. It was nearly as bad as if she used my middle name. Boy, if she said  used my middle name, ……. I knew I was in trouble. Of course there was a look that accompanied it. One of those “ Don’t Mess With Mom,” looks we all know so well.

Another saying she used, and she is the only one I’m aware of that ever said it, was when someone asked where our home town is located.  For some reason she would always answer, “Right squack( pronounced like quack) dab in the middle of Montana,” rather than “right smack dab in the middle.” I don’t know why she said it that way, but it was her way. I don’t remember anyone correcting her.  Of course it’s never a good idea to correct your Mom.

One I hear frequently is, “It’s a doggy dog world,” rather than “It’s a dog eat dog world.” To me, “a dog eat dog world” conjures up a tough place where everyone is trying to get to the top regardless of whomever is in their way. A “doggy dog world,” sounds like someone lost their puppy, which is sad, but just about the opposite of the original.

I remember one that was used in “The Wizard of Oz,” which states; “that’s a horse of another color.” I heard many people use it as “That’s the horses nother color.” Not sure how that came about.

I grew up with a friend who never did pronounce “probably” correctly. He always said, “parbly” He’d say “Yeah, I’ll parbly go to the rodeo.” I’ve heard him called  Parbly and knew who they were speaking of.

A couple of words that sound alike that I often hear used improperly are “jive”, the jazz or swing music and the slang language of jazz musicians, used in place of  “jibe.” which means to be in accord with. For example, “Yeah, our ideas jive, so let’s do it.” I guess they mean the ideas dance together in a jivey, swinging way.

I hear people singing a line in Gene Autry’s song, “Back In the Saddle Again,” that goes “Where the longhorn cattle feed on the lowly “Gypsum” weed, rather than the real word, “Jimson” weed, which is a foul smelling, poisonous, plant. Gypsum is a white mineral used to make cement, gypsum board, plaster of Paris and fertilizer.

Rein, reign and rain are often mis-used. I see reign used where rein should be in television adds a lot. I guess those who write the TV ads don’t know what reins are.

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