Don't Shoe Me In

At the risk of sounding like a middle-aged fuddy duddy . . . I've noticed recently that there are certain words and expressions that are routinely misspelled all over the internets, even on somewhat "professional" websites, and it's starting to bug me. Of course, standard grammar and spelling is hard to come by on a lot of blogs and such, but I'm talking about errors that I see by people who otherwise have a good grasp of basic spelling.

For example, the expression "shoo-in," as in "he's a shoo-in to win the election." When did people start spelling this "shoe-in"? Did I miss something? Aren't we supposed to be "shooing" the person in the door? Or are we now kicking them through the door with our shoe? I know society is becoming more violent, so maybe I missed the memo. Another one is "cut and dried." Like a flower is cut and then it is dried, and then it's done and it can't be undone or changed. Somehow this has mutated into "cut and dry." Is it just me, or has this expression been lost also?

And then there are actors who apparently take various "rolls." I always think of the craft services table when I see that and it makes me laugh. They take their rolls and then they eat them. But I think they would prefer to get a meaty role instead. I know I would. And don't get me started on "intensive purposes." I don't think my purposes are ever intensive enough . . . but for all intents and purposes, the original expression appears to have been lost. I think a lot of people just have never seen the expression in written form and just hear it as "intensive purposes." I don't know. These are the things that spell check will never catch, so maybe that explains why they are so frequently misspelled.

Anyway. I know I sound old. ::sigh:: I guess I'm turning into my mother. When did that happen? And she doesn't want to think of herself as old either.