I wish I could remember the name of the movie, but there’s one with Ted Danson playing a nuclear scientist and in a media interview he accidentally says “nucular”, then catches himself and blurts out, “Oh my God, did I just say nucular?”.
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It’s interesting how many people do cling to naming themselves last, properly, but when it’s used in a prepositional phrase they get the person wrong.
Someone who might say, “My dad got candy for me and my friend” will, when naming themselves last, say “My dad got candy for my friend and I”.
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I’ve always thought of the former as proper and the latter as a later bastardization based on not having heard the other speakers correctly.
Another one of my peeves is “I’m going to try and get to the dinner on time” rather than “try to get to…”.
I feel as if I’m channeling some kind of Yoda, but I think one will either try to do something, or one will do something.
A lot of people do, but not everyone. (Everyone) minus (a lot of people) = (those of us who laugh at people who do).
Strangely, it sometimes seems that people who say “I could care less” are grasping after an air of sophistication.
Like. Nails. On. Chalkboard.
It’s like they’re overcorrecting. I wonder if many people use ‘myself’ just to be on the safe side 
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Hope you and your friend are safe, John
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Yeah. Count me in the camp of conservative linguists (aka, Old Fuddy Duddy Get Off Mah Porch! types) who don’t like drift. What I had hammered into my head at a young age is “the way it’s supposed to be”.
Don’t get me started on people who use “comprises” to mean “to make up” rather than “contained therein” or “embraced thereby” (I am a patent attorney, after all). The whole comprises (holds, contains) the parts. The parts do not “comprise” the whole.
And I had this hammered home by a 4th grade teacher. It was only when I started writing patents that her lessons, like chickens, came home to roost.
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The original use is “Jerry-rigged”, and is from one of the world wars, where anything made by the Germans (nicknamed “Jerries”) was considered inferior by the Allies, so was “Jerry-rigged”.
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I’m sure they were ‘from away’ as thr6 say in Maine. I can’t imagine a native making that error. But, ya nevah know.
That fire is insane…doubled overnight! I hope your friend is safe with you, and his home remains safe as well.
re scallops, the principal in a PBS show about Maine talked about “scollops”.
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I get told I sound Swiss. 
Because my German sounds funny.
Im safe . Thank you
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That happened with the Oakland Hills Fire in '91. The greedy city gave the new owners/developers carte blanche to build out to the property line (throwing away any set back regulations) and allow new multistory mcmansions where sweet little bungalows or jr. craftsmans were before. So, so sad. Owners who could not rebuild were forced to take their losses to the ‘bedroom’ communities eastward.
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Exactly. Instant urban renewal with oodles of nice cleared land.
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I looked these up long ago when I first read “jury rigged” in a Heinlein novel, because I grew up with “jerry rigged” and wondered how someone as smart as Heinlein got it wrong. Then found out he didn’t have it wrong, I did.
Websters link below tells the tale. Jury-rigged has been in use since the late 1700s, far predating WW-I, and tracing the usage of just the word “jury” itself to the 1400s, meaning an improvised sail. And it looks like the early uses of jury-rigged also referred to makeshift fixits while sailing, before it started being used more generally.
Jerry-built and jerry-style came along in the mid 1800s, then finally jerry-rigged during WW-I as, like you mention, a pejorative aimed at Germans (also Gerrys or Gerries).
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And I’ve only known it as “jury-rigged” so was trying to figure out how I had learned it incorrectly…when you confirmed I hadn’t. 
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Was that on the Yankee Weekend show with Amy? I had to laugh at that correction.
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I guess I should get a spit kit and see if I have any Austrians in the very-mixed-up mix.
Ok, I stand corrected.
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