15 Common Phrases You’ve Been Saying Wrong For Years

Larry Kim
Larry Kim
Aug 29, 2017 · 2 min read

You might have laughed or cringed or gnashed your teeth while reading this article’s subtitle, but the odds are that you’ve made mistakes a time or two on a familiar word or expression.

Using language incorrectly may not seem like a big deal — after all, people are actually writing essays in text-speak now and getting away with it. Yet when you’re speaking to an audience of customers, clients and colleagues, you need to demonstrate your professionalism at all times.

An improper grasp of the language won’t impress anyone, will cost you the respect of your peers and may, in the long run, cost you business!

Now, some of these are actually pretty tough, so I don’t blame you if you slip up on them from time to time. For example, many of us are guilty of suggesting it’s time to “Take a different tact” when what we mean is that it’s time to “Take a different tack.”

Tact refers to your sensitivity in dealing with others, while tack is a sailing term that means: change course by turning the boat into the wind.

You’re forgiven for not knowing some obscure sailing term.

Others just make you look silly, though. Imagine actually “pouring over” documents at work. What are you pouring? Isn’t it messy?

You should probably not do that. Just saying.

Take a look at this list of commonly misused expressions and see how many you recognize:

About The Author

Larry Kim is the CEO of Mobile Monkey and founder of WordStream. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.


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Larry Kim

Written by

Larry Kim

CEO of MobileMonkey. Founder of WordStream. Top columnist @Inc ❤️ AdWords, Facebook Advertising, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Start-ups & Venture Capital 🦄

Mission.org

A network of business & tech podcasts designed to accelerate learning. Selected as “Best of 2018” by Apple. Mission.org

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