How Not to Embarrass Yourself in MBA Applications

Listed below are some commonly misused sayings in their proper form:

“Nip in the bud”

Please don’t ever say (or write) that you wanted to “nip” something “in the butt.” The correct expression is to “nip it in the bud,” as in, before the thing concerned blossoms/blooms/comes to fruition.

“Jibe with”

If something jibes with you, it means that it suits you, agrees with you, is in accord with you. To “jive with” someone or something isn’t actually a saying, though it is a 1930s dance style.

“One and the same”

You might’ve heard people say (or said yourself) “one in the same,” but the correct phrase is “one and the same”—meaning, simply enough, the same personal or thing. Clark Kent and Superman are one and the same.

“Case in point”

A “case in point” is an illustrative example—it’s a good example of exactly what you happen to be discussing. It’s sometimes mistakenly referred to as a “case and point,” but under that formation, the case that you’re pointing out and the point that you’re trying to make wouldn’t necessarily have to have anything to do with each other! Think about it this way: you mention a case in making your point.

“Worst-case scenario”

Watch out for its similar-sounding but not quite logical cousin, “worse-case scenario.” When you’re looking at a worst-case scenario, you aren’t considering a scenario that’s somewhat or slightly worse than another, you are looking at the worst possible scenario. What’s the worst that could happen? That’s your worst-case scenario.

A “shoo-in”

You might think you’re a shoo-in for the job, but your patent leather shoes ain’t got nothing to do with it. A sure winner is a “shoo-in,” which draws on the verb shoo, “to urge something in a desired direction.” (You know, like, “shoo fly, don’t bother me”?) The phrase originated in the 1930s with rigged horse-racing. So be sure not to tell anyone that you’re a “shoe-in.”

“Whet your appetite”

This commonly misused phrase (“wet your appetite”) stems from those tricky homophones we just discussed. To “wet” something is to moisten it, while to “whet” something is to sharpen or hone it. Archaically, a “whet” (noun) was a thing that stimulated appetite or desire—hence our still-used phrase, “to whet the appetite.” 

“Rein in” (and “free rein”)

Another homophone-based blunder leads many of us to the incorrect expression, “reign in.” To get this one right, think of horses (instead of royalty). A horse’s bridle has reins that are attached to the bit. If you want to restrict the horse’s movement—to slow its pace or make it stop—you pull in on the reins. Hence the term, reining in. Alternatively, if you want to let the horse canter at will, you give it free rein.

“Home in”

This is probably the most commonly misused expression in this whole guide. Home and hone are both lovely verbs, but they should be used in very different ways. You do not “hone in” on something (meaning, zoom in/zero in/focus on). You hone a skill or an ability (e.g. “I’ve been honing my writing skills lately”), but you home in on something. To remember this, think of pigeons—homing pigeons, to be precise. These little guys home in on a specified destination. They certainly aren’t called honing pigeons

“Toe the line”

You’ve got your toe to the line, inches away from crossing it. You’re not pulling the line behind your pick-up truck. (Ixnay on the whole “towing” the line.)

“Bear with me”

With this phrase, you ask someone to stick with you on something—to hold tight as you go through some complicated explanation or fumble your way through fixing a problem. If you go for the homophone, “bare,” you might end up embarrassing yourself. (“Bare with me”?…Yikes)

“On tenterhooks”

I bet you don’t even know what “tenterhooks” are, eh? Most of us don’t. There’s also a good chance that you or someone you know thinks the saying is actually, “on tender hooks.” A tenterhook is a sharp hook that fastens cloth to a tenter (a frame across which cloth is stretched for drying). The phrase aligns the tenseness of stretched fabric to the tenseness of a person. Being “on tenterhooks” is a state of uneasiness, anxiety, suspense.

“You’ve got another think coming”

I know, I know. Somehow the correct phrasing here sounds worse than the more commonly said (though technically incorrect), “you’ve got another thing coming.” While “you’ve got another thing coming” makes pretty logical sense and is very widely used, the original saying runs something like this: “If that’s what you think (you’re wrong), then you’ve got another think coming (i.e. you better think again).”

“For all intents and purposes”

Many who have only ever heard this phrase, transcribe it as “for all intensive purposes.” This trick of the ear doesn’t really make sense when you put pressure on it.

“I couldn’t care less”

This is a big one to watch out for. “I could care less” has become a popular phrase over the years, but leaving out the “not” defeats the whole purpose of the phrase. If you couldn’t care less, your level of interest or concern cannot possibly go any lower. You couldn’t possibly be any less concerned about whether we get pizza, Chinese food, sushi, whatever. If you could care less, then you DO CARE, the opposite of the intended meaning of this phrase.

“Center on”/“Centers on”

If you want to state the main theme, point, or intention of a certain document (e.g. “My paper is all about the fall of the Roman Empire”), “centers on” is a nice turn of phrase to have up your sleeve. That said, the variant “centers around” is technically incorrect, for it makes no logical sense—the two terms, “center” and “around,” are in tension with one another. 

“Hear! Hear!”

If you’d like to belt out your agreement with something, the correct expression is “hear, hear” not “here, here” As we learned with homophones, no one will know the difference if you shout it out, but they will notice a difference if you ever write it down. “Hear, hear” is likely a shortening of “hear him, hear him”—a phrase used in Parliament in the 1600s. So unless you’d like to shout about your current location, stick with “hear.”