I think another thing (word choice unintentional) with the think/thing replacement is that the repeated hard K sound in "think coming" is slightly difficult to pronounce, so softening it to a G makes it easier to say while still retaining close to the same impression.


Quote Originally Posted by Breakbeat View Post
Some other fun ones just pulled from that Wikipedia article:

"ex-patriot" for "expatriate"
"for all intensive purposes" for "for all intents and purposes"
"free reign" for "free rein"
"old-timers' disease" for "Alzheimer's disease"
"preying mantis" for "praying mantis"
"with baited breath" for "with bated breath"
"the feeble position" for "the foetal position"
"chomping at the bit" for "champing at the bit"
"real trooper" for "real trouper"
Most of those make my inner proofreader curl up in a not-feeble position, but "old-timers' disease" is hilarious.

I'll throw in another bad one that I've come across even in published books occasionally: formerly versus formally. Particularly glaring since both could appear in the same context – "formerly known as [past title]" vs "formally known as [long-winded title]".