Specsavers vows to leave misheard sayings in 2024

By Evie Moysen on Monday, August 19, 2024

Specsavers have launched a ‘Misheard Manifesto’, helping Brits nail the most commonly misheard sayings, whilst also encouraging people to get their hearing checked!

From ‘escapegoat’ to ‘nip it in the butt’ to ‘damp squib’, Brits are known for butchering popular English sayings. So, Specsavers have teamed up with self-proclaimed wordsmith Gyles Brandreth to clear up any confusion.

The campaign comes off the back of research by Nottingham and Manchester University that revealed that more than a quarter of the UK’s population are estimated to have some form of hearing loss. While the campaign itself found that nearly half (46%) of Brits admit to using sayings incorrectly and one in four find it irritating when other people use misheard sayings – the research also revealed that we are too polite to tell family and friends they’re wrong!

“There are 18 million adults in the UK who have hearing loss and many more people don’t realise that they are not hearing things as clearly as they used to. The aim, through our Misheard campaigns, is to open up the conversation about our hearing health and encourage people to act sooner.”