Longtime readers of this blog may know I’m endlessly fascinated with speech. One thing that especially fascinates me is the way phrases change over time. For example, people used to say a book or movie was “based on” a true story if it was about something that actually happened. Now, everybody says “based off of”—and that seems to be especially true for those of us in the age range of, oh, about twenty to forty.

Here are some other phrases my generation seems to have adopted:

● “on accident” instead of “by accident”

● “these ones” instead of “these”

● “all of the sudden” instead of “all of a sudden” (I still prefer the latter—and many in or around the Millennial age range do still use it.)

● “use to” and “suppose to” instead of “used to” and “supposed to” (and this may make it sound like I am one small step from yelling at those kids to get off my lawn, but to me, these words just look wrong without the d.)

What phrases have you noticed changing over time?