Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[Pulcinella]

"Domestos kills all germs dead".

Well, I guess that's marginally better than the alternative 'Kills 99.9% of all known germs'.
It's the unknown ones we should probably all be more worried about.

[cloughie]

Well, I guess that's marginally better than the alternative 'Kills 99.9% of all known germs'.
It's the unknown ones we should probably all be more worried about.

...and the .1% that survive and multiply!

[LMcD]

'From', e.g. 'holidays from £199'
and
'Up to', e.g. 'savings of up to 70%'

[ardcarp]

...and I've seen 'from up to' on occasions!

[LMcD]

'Off-rolling' - the removal of a pupil from a school register, apparently the penultimate sanction before expulsion or whatever it's called these days.

[LezLee]

No-one uses 'persuade' any more - "I tried to convince him to go to the doctor"

Also vanishing, 'prevent' - "I had to stop him from crossing the road"

[Serial_Apologist]

No-one uses 'persuade' any more - "I tried to convince him to go to the doctor"

Also vanishing, 'prevent' - "I had to stop him from crossing the road"

And isn't that "from" surplus to requirements?

[vinteuil]

And isn't that "from" surplus to requirements?

... well, it has to be either :

"stop him from crossing the road"

or :

"stop his crossing the road".

The former sounds more idiomatic.

.

[LMcD]

No-one uses 'persuade' any more - "I tried to convince him to go to the doctor"

Also vanishing, 'prevent' - "I had to stop him from crossing the road"

'I stopped him crossing the road' suggests he was stopped as he was crossing, or that he used to cross the road but I persuaded him to stop (or he gave up!)

[LezLee]

... well, it has to be either :

"stop him from crossing the road"

or :

"stop his crossing the road".

The former sounds more idiomatic.

.

I would say "To stop him crossing the road" or 'prevent him crossing the road' no 'from' needed in either case.
Put flowers in water to prevent them wilting.

To my mind, 'prevent' exists so there's no need for 'stop .....from'

Another horror is: 'The reason is because....'

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Another horror is: 'The reason is because....'

Exam. question: What was the reason for the Greek victory in the Trojan Wars?

[Stanfordian]

Smash it! - You've smashed it!

[Nick Armstrong]

Smash it! - You've smashed it!

And if anyone else on R3 (or elsewhere for that matter) describes themselves as "blown away" by something, I shall start looking online to purchase some Semtex

[Boilk]

Brexit - but only when pronounced Breg-zit instead of Brek-sit.

Maybe because the first time I heard it pronounced this way was by one Tony Blair, and he generally has me reaching for the remote control by default.

I know there are two variants of "exi" in the middle of a word ... as in exit (eksit) versus exist (egzist), but since Brexit is simply exit with a prefix why would anyone not pronounce it 'Brek-sit'?

[Serial_Apologist]

And if anyone else on R3 (or elsewhere for that matter) describes themselves as "blown away" by something, I shall start looking online to purchase some Semtex