Editor's Corner

Today we have three commonly misheard sayings and some pictures! This is from an article by J. Frater, called 10 Misconceptions About Common Sayings, found here: listverse.com/2009/03/23/10-misconceptions-about-common-sayings.

Note: Australian article, follows British punctuation rules.

Free Reign (Free Rein)

Common Saying: To give someone free reign

This is a spelling error that leads to a misunderstanding – though the meanings remain the same fundamentally. Many people presume this phrase to mean that a person given free reign, has the “royal” power to do anything they want. In fact, the correct phrase is “free rein” and it comes from the days before cars when horses were used as our main mode of transport. When navigating a steep or winding path, one would relax the reins so that the horse could pick the safest path as he was more likely to do a better job than the rider.

Scot Free

Common Saying: To get off scot free

Many people think that this saying refers to Scottish people being tight with money – hence something being free, but in fact the word “scot” is an old Norse word which means “payment” – specifically a payment made to a landlord or sheriff. So this phrase – while meaning what most people think it means, has no connection to the Scottish people – it just means to get off without having to pay.

Wreck Havoc (Wreak Havoc)

Common Saying: To wreck havoc

Havoc means chaos – and to wreck something is to put it into a state of chaos. So why would you make chaos out of chaos? You wouldn’t. What you might do is wreak havoc though – because “to wreak” means “to cause to happen”. The two words are pronounced differently – wreck sounds like “rek” while “wreak” sounds like “reek”. It is a small – but common, error.

Kara Church | Senior Technical Editor

Symitar, A Jack Henry Company

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