50 Mistreated Words and Desecrated Phrases: Expresso

Coffee is king for many folks. Designer coffees may be particularly prized, especially when consumers can pick up steaming cups at drive-through express windows.

Plenty of coffee lovers choose espresso, a particularly potent blend. But it is not expresso, even in the express line.

Personally, I'd rather have a pot of tea. But that's just me. 

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50 Mistreated Words and Desecrated Phrases: Ex Cetera

Somewhere, Yul Brynner is cringing. (Remember The King and I?)

“Et cetera” is actually a Latin phrase, meaning “and so forth.”

Why do so many people say, “ex cetera”? That would mean “formerly and so forth,” which makes no sense at all.

(Ask Peter Cetera, if you don’t believe me.)

The correct phrase is “et cetera.”

Why else would “et cetera” be abbreviated as “etc”?

While we’re at it, let’s just settle something else, once and for all. “And et cetera” is redundant. The Latin word “et” means “and.”

Et cetera = etc.

And so forth.

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50 Mistreated Words and Desecrated Phrases: Escape Goat

This is a ba-a-adly misused phrasing.

"Scapegoat” is actually a biblical term. The word appears in Leviticus 16. In Old Testament times, led by a priest, the Jewish people would symbolically place their own sins on a goat. The animal would then be sent off into the wilderness, carrying the sins of the people away with him.

So, in a sense, the scapegoat did provide the people with an escape of sorts. But that’s somewhat a matter of semantics.

As centuries passed, the term “scapegoat” gained broader meaning.

It’s now used to designate anyone who bears the blame for another’s fault.

Let’s sum this up easily.

If your livestock is loose, you may have a real escape goat. But if you blame someone else for leaving the gate open, then we’re talking about a scapegoat.

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50 Mistreated Words and Desecrated Phrases: Each One’s Worst Than the Next

Where do we start with this desecrated phrase?

First, grammatically, it’s a mess.

Each one may be worse than the next, but not worst. It doesn’t even matter what sort of entity “one” is used to describe.

What’s more, the meaning is shot.

The intent of this oft-used phrase is usually aimed at describing deterioration, not  improvement.

Think about it.

If each one is actually worse than the next, then things must be better than they were before.

But that’s not what people usually have in mind when the say it.

Each one’s worse than the last.

That’s more like it – at least, from a language statement. Still, it’d be nice to see things take an upturn and make the too-often desecrated phrasing moot.

Life can always improve, and it often does, even if language seems to grow ever sloppier.

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