MIKE MENDIS

Several common English idioms and expressions have  undergone remarkable (and sometimes rather puzzling) transformations at the hands of American users of the English language. These transformations occur for a variety of reasons: (1) ignorance of the meaning or origin of the original phrase; (2) lack of familiarity with certain (relatively rare) words in the original phrase and a consequent approximation to the nearest familiar word; (3) carelessness in listening to the phrase being used in speech and a resulting distortion of misheard words; (4) a naive interpretation of the principle of "freedom of expression."

On the right, you will find a list of some of these idioms and expressions. Click on the idiom or expression to see an explanatory note providing some background material and a discussion of the process by whch the contortion or distortion occurred as well as examples of its use in current American English.

Click on the left and right arrows at the bottom to see more items on the list.