A Few Common Mistakes (that most of us are guilty of)

I’ll admit upfront that I’ve been guilty in the past of misusing common expressions (even the few I've identified here in this post).  But, even at the risk of sounding hypocritical, it’s worth at least one post to draw a little attention to these common mistakes.  I hear some of these errors almost every day from intelligent, articulate people (some of which have their own TV shows for god’s sake).  And, since I was pretty tough on some Korean’s English in the last post, it’s only fair that I call us native speakers out too.

     Data—Data is plural.  The singular form is Datum.  Don’t say “the data is conclusive.”  Say “the      
          data are conclusive.”  And please, unless you want to get a foot up your ass for being a pompous 
          prick, don't ever say datum. 

     Sacred cow—People can’t be sacred cows, ideas are.  People, however, can most 
          certainly be "fat cows," "stubborn cows," or just "cows."  Certain restrictions occasionally apply. 

     Immaculate Conception—I don’t know why people just don’t look this
          up before they say it.  But the “immaculate conception” is not the conception of Jesus.  The
          “immaculate conception” refers to Mary’s conception.  According to the book of Luke (hence, ". . .
          Mary, full of grace . . ."), Mary was conceived without original sin.  Regardless of how people feel
          about religion, let’s get the goddamn usage right!!

These are just a few I came up with off the top of my head.

Any other ideas?  Let me know.