It’s interesting to watch how truisms/turns of phrase shift spelling as people get further and further away from the realities that inspired the words in the first place. I just saw “put through the ringer,” which should be “wringer”— the tool with which people used to wring their clothes dry

I would add “tow the line” (pretty sure it’s toe) and “racked with guilt” (wracked), both of which I’ve seen repeatedly.

"baited breath" is another one. Like, I ate some Doritos so my nacho breath would draw you in, or something.

My friend was once sent an email *by her boss*, in which something or someone was described as being "in the rears" (in arrears) and when she finished laughing wildly she had to have a loooooong think about if/how to tell her boss what the correct wording was.

My favorite that I ran across (in nursing notes) was "the patient reports breaking out in whelps." All I could think about was someone covered in puppies, and I would like all of my allergic reactions to be that, please! Note: This was not just one mis-wording; it was in lots of different notes

a woman is playing with a bunch of puppies on a deck with a caption that says is this heaven

Alt: Gif of a person lying down on an outdoor deck with lots of golden retriever puppies climbing on to snuggle them

I think that some part of me knew it was wringer, but in my mind I've always imagined someone with their head inside a bell like an old Warner Brothers cartoon.

You say "shift spelling" I say "illiterates embarrassing themselves who require public correction so they don't do it again and/or encourage others" It's a subtle distinction to be sure, but those who say "hold the reigns" shall be denied peace until they comprehend the actual phrase

That’s just cromulent

This is part of why the idea of “fluency” in a second language isn’t necessarily useful—at one point my Russian was very good for what I needed it for (research, shopping, watching TV), but I still needed a dictionary for Tolstoy because I was never traveling by carriage or wearing 19th clothes.

But of course anyone born after the invention of the dryer would be less likely to know that a wringer is a thing that existed, or what it did, or why “putting something through the wringer” would be harrowing for the thing being wrung.

How about the slow move from a ‘head-up display’ in a car/aeroplane to a ‘heads-up display’? - the original meaning being replaced by the more commonly heard idiom ‘giving a heads-up’. I suppose it still works so people will forget the original definition.