Readers of yahoo.com have been put through the wringer trying to decipher this expression:
A wringer is the part of an old-timey washing machine that squeezed the water out of laundry:
It doesn’t take a vivid imagination to visualize being put through a wringer. I have no idea what the writer thought “through the ringer” could possibly mean.
The English language gets put through the wringer over at Yahoo! Style:
I have no idea why the writer thought “through the ringer” made sense. This is a wringer, the part of a washer that squeezes out the water from clothes:
So, “through the wringer” is the correct idiom.
When writers try to use common idioms and get them wrong, I scratch my head. “What do they think that means?” I wonder, dusting the dandruff off my keyboard.
Such is the case when I read this on Yahoo! Shine:
What did the writer think “put through the ringer” meant? This is a ringer:
This is a wringer — the part of a wringer washer that squeezes out water:
The English language gets put through the wringer every day on Yahoo!. This time it’s suffering at the keyboard of a reporter for Yahoo! News‘ “The Ticket”:
Less egregious offenses in that same article include capitalizing words that don’t deserve it:
typos that leave me confused:
and an apparent reference to a life insurance company. Or is it a reference to prudent regulators? Or something else that might actually make sense?
The English language is once again put through the wringer at the keyboard of a Yahoo! Shine writer:
When he’s not lobbing insults at “American Idol” contestants, Simon Cowell spends his time trying to influence legislators. No, no, that can’t be right. It doesn’t make sense, but it does appear in the Yahoo! Music blog “Reality Rocks,” so there must be some truth to it:
Was there a ringer in “American Idol”? Someone who was put there by the producers to affect the outcome of the voting?
And was the ringer put through the wringer like the other contestants?
Terribly Write 