Some common phrases get repeated so often that we don’t even question the meaning. One hears it, assumes it’s correct and then repeats it. A good example of this is, “I could care less.” Well, if you could care less, then I guess it really doesn’t bother you.
Rather, the correct phrase is, “I couldn’t care less.” You are saying you could not care less about something. That means you care the littlest amount that you can possibly care. As in, “I couldn’t care less whether you like my work.”
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Lol! This is a pet peeve of mine as well. One that gets me, since I discovered I was saying it incorrectly back in high school, is “For all intents and purposes.” You would not believe the large number of people who say, “For all intensive purposes.” Then there’s the phrase, “Suffice it to say.” I got an email from my niece the other day that said, “Sufficed to say.” Of course, there is also the related phenomenon of misheard lyrics. Just yesterday as I was driving home from Wal-Mart I heard “There’s a bathroom on the right.” (AKA “Bad Moon on the Rise”) People are funny, they just repeat what they think they hear, without questioning the meaning!