You May Have Bad Breath But "Baited Breath" You Do Not.

After seeing repetitive mis-use of this phrase, I thought I should bring this up.

What's the difference between 'bated' and 'baited',you may ask? Well, 'bated' is actually a short-form for 'abated' which means to 'bring down,lower or depress'. Bait,in simple terms,means 'to lure' or something used as a lure.

So,a person can speak in 'bated' breath but to wait with 'bated' breath doesn't make sense,in my opinion. And 'baiting' of breath isn't even in the realm of possibility given the meaning of bait.

Source

The article linked above shows us that the mistake of using 'baited' instead of 'bated' even appears in a popular book. Books,generally speaking, seem to be written now days merely to appeal to the widest audience possible in order to make the most money possible without much regard as to the real value or accuracy of the content.

This situation brings to mind a couple of good quotes about writing:

"The multitude of books is making us ignorant." —Voltaire

Many books require no thought from those who read them, and for a very simple reason. They made no such demand upon those who wrote them. ~Charles Caleb Colton

Quantity over quality seems to be the name of the game and for this reason,our language is becoming less carefully monitored for accuracy and value of contents. So,it stands to reason that people should be more diligent when it comes to clarification of language as a commonly accepted usage of a word, phrase or idea may be inaccurate.

I'm not trying to be a 'holier-than-thou' intellectual stooge here. I just thought it was worth mentioning for any who might care. Just because something is written in a book,doesn't mean it is accurate. I'm just trying to be helpful.

Totally understand mate.The phrase that people on here repeatedly use which annoys me is''could care less''-for gods sake it's ''couldn't care less'' two totally different meanings,idiots!

reply to post by FlyingJadeDragon


Actually I have had baited breath...

Long story short, drinking to excess with a big ego while fishing with mean spirited friends will take you places...

Dark, chum filled, nauseous places....

~Heff

Originally posted by glen200376
Totally understand mate.The phrase that people on here repeatedly use which annoys me is''could care less''-for gods sake it's ''couldn't care less'' two totally different meanings,idiots!

That's another good one. Thanks for pointing that out. There are actually quite a few more words or phrases that could go on the list,I'm sure.

Originally posted by Hefficide
reply to post by FlyingJadeDragon

 

Actually I have had baited breath...

Long story short, drinking to excess with a big ego while fishing with mean spirited friends will take you places...

Dark, chum filled, nauseous places....

~Heff

Okay, that's a funny one. I guess there is an exception to everything. Maybe you had 'bait breath'? Oh dear, I don't want to even think about getting a mouth full of stink bait. Gaaack!

Somewhat related is the common misuse of the word, 'frequency'. It's as though some people think that because two things have a frequency, they are one and the same. They way it is used in a lot of threads here makes absolutely no sense.