1. "Pacifically".
Now I know some people do struggle with pronunciation, like those speakers of our fair language whose mother tongue is not English, and therefore their inability to pronounce certain tongue-twisters without struggling, resulting in often inadvertently hilarious double-entendres, is excusable.
And then there are those who were born and raised to speak the English language and have never been exposed to the confusing scenario of two or more languages within their daily lives. Except, perhaps for two weeks of the year when holidaying on the continent, in the traditional Brit abroad cliché - "Me no speaka Espan-yol, amigo."
It is those people who fall into the latter category who confuse and irritate me the most upon uttering the phrase 'Pacifically' when what they mean to say is 'specifically'.
I can just about see how one could accidentally splutter the oceanic version of the original lexicon, when drunk for example. Or aged two.
But when I hear grown men and women, in casual conversation say 'can you be a bit more Pacific please?' I can't help but cringe and squirm.
I just want to yell: "It is not possible to BE Pacific, considering that the Pacific is A. an ocean (the largest on earth nonetheless), therefore a noun and B. an adjective to describe a person with a peaceful nature, so in the latter sense yes it is possible to be pacific but not in the context in which you are using it!"
However, I fear that this strategy would not be well received, nor fully understood by the dullard who said it in the first place.
2. Veranda/Verdana
I blame Bill Gates for this easy slip-up. For those unobservant word processors out there - the Word font is called Verdana, not Veranda, like the outside porch we all know and love. God knows why, let alone what a Verdana is or means!
3. "At the end of the day".
Raaaarrrgh!!! I literally do not understand why Frank Lampard, and most other Premiership footballers for that matter, can't get through the day without using this beaut as a prefix to every sentence.
WAG to footballer, upon waking up in the morning: "Would you like your protein shake now dear?"
Footballer to WAG: "At the end of the day, it's a bit early."
WAG to footballer: "So do you want it now or later then?"
Even a non-WAG would be confused!
4. "It's just one thing after another".
No shit Sherlock! It's also one thing before another, depending on how you look at it, bearing in mind that life's events usually happen sequentially, thanks to a certain little thing we rely on called 'time'.
