Five common words we’re all using incorrectly

[Still Waters 40,979]

Many people think they know their main language intimately. But there are many words and phrases in English that people often use wrongly. Whether these erroneous uses truly count as “wrong” is up for debate – after all, a mistake that has become widely adopted should really be considered acceptable. But whichever side of this argument you err towards, here are five examples of ones that we are all making.

https://theconversation.com/five-common-words-were-all-using-incorrectly-125781

[Desertrat56 5,751]

I think he could do better than that.  What about Monsoon.  It is more recently commonly misused, or the meaning has been changed by an uneducated weather reporter on a television show.

[Orphalesion 4,245]

Lists like that are always rather silly, at least under the titles they have. Nobody's using those words "incorrectly" only because they meant different things hundreds of years ago and/or came about because of confusion. Language is a living and changing things and words change their meaning, form etc.
A better title to that list would have been "Words with Surprising Origins"

[third_eye 37,218]

You can give new meaning to old words but you can never give old meaning to new words... Word... 

~

[susieice 25,195]

That's what pease porridge is? Peas....that makes sense. 

[littlebrowndragon 115]

Metaphor.

I am reading a book on rhetoric in which various figures of speech, commonly used in rhetoric (and in e.g. poetry) are described.  In this book, the term "metaphor" has degenerated from describing a specific figure of speech into what one might call a group noun, in this case a word which describes many figures of speech.  So, a simile is now a special kind of metaphor, as is an analogy etc, etc.  In reality, of course, these words have distinct meanings

I do not think this change in meaning of a word, e.g. metaphor, is as harmless as others on this thread assert.  Personally, I think it demonstrates a confusion in people's thinking if they can no longer distinguish one figure of speech from another.  Confused thinking never has a happy outcome. For one thing, it leads to inarticulacy which is very harmful to the individual concerned.  

Edited October 31 by littlebrowndragon

[MainerMikeBrown 625]

I use a lot of words incorrectly because my grammatical and spelling skills aren't as good as they should be.

I wish I had put more effort into learning the English language back in English class during high school.  But I didn't.

[Harte 16,235]

Interesting article.

But I think that to suggest we are using these words incorrectly is to suggest we all ought to be walking around speaking Old English.

Harte

[Desertrat56 5,751]

1 hour ago, MainerMikeBrown said:

I use a lot of words incorrectly because my grammatical and spelling skills aren't as good as they should be.

I wish I had put more effort into learning the English language back in English class during high school.  But I didn't.

High school?  You didn't lear english until high school?  What school did you go to that did not teach grammar and spelling in grade school? 

[MainerMikeBrown 625]

Desert, I'm sorry that I misled you, but I was taught English grammar and spelling both during high school and grade school.

[Desertrat56 5,751]

30 minutes ago, MainerMikeBrown said:

Desert, I'm sorry that I misled you, but I was taught English grammar and spelling both during high school and grade school.

OK.  I was just concerned because now days it seems like those things are not taught, though my grandson does have a spelling test every Friday. 

I remember grammar never made sense to me until I took a Spanish class.  English grammar is crazy, "I before E except for neighbor and weigh and all the other exceptions."  In Spanish there are very few exceptions to any rule.

Edited November 17 by Desertrat56