naval gazing for navel gazing, naval baring for navel baring Naval things are ship-related; Buddhist monks meditating were alleged to concentrate on their navel or belly button. Metaphorically it means to look inward rather than outward.

nebbish used as adjective In person he is nebbish and self deprecating. Guardian June 27 09 The revelations about Woody Allen’s behavior exposed his lovable, nebbish persona as a sham. Toby Young I viewed Allen as the nebbish, annoying character. Web As has been the custom in many Woody Allen films, many of the actors deliver their lines in very nebbish, Allen-like fashion. Web A nebbish (it's a noun) is a weedy, ineffective, stammering kind of a guy. The adjective is nebbishy.

needlepin cords for needlecord "They look like right-on Londoners in their librarian chic needlepin cords and Marks & Spencer cardies." Veena Virdi, Times , September 20, 1997 Needlecord is very fine corduroy, big in the 70s. Thick corduroy was known as elephant cord.

niceties for amenities Niceties are picky points; amenities are features provided.

nihilistic for egotistic I haven't looked at my wikipedia page - I'm not so nihilistic! (person on TV) A nihilist believes in nothing; an egotist is obsessed with himself.

noisome for noisy "noisesome railway lines" Guardian July 8 06 Noisome means smelly; noisy means loud.

non sequitur for misnomer When you commit a non sequitur, you link two things that aren't connected – one doesn't follow from the other; a misnomer is the wrong name.

novist for novice (Web)

novitiate for novice Merriam Webster says a novitiate is: the period or state of being a novice; a house where novices are trained. And a novice is: a person admitted to probationary membership in a religious community. (Someone who's been initiated is an initiate.)

obtuse for obscure or abstruse Obtuse means stupid; obscure means hidden; abstruse means complex. An obtuse angle is the opposite of an acute one – is calling dim people obtuse a Victorian joke?

ode for mantra, adage An ode is a poem; a mantra is a repeated sacred word; an adage is a proverb.

officious for official The role hardly suited the officious persona of a Catholic princess. Observer June 19 09 An officious person
is bossily organising; an official persona is a public image.

old saw for old chestnut An old saw is an old saying or proverb; an old chestnut is an old story or idea.

old wise tail for old wives' tale This is a real Mondegreen. LINK

on a higher plain, this earthly plain, on a higher plain of existence I suddenly got a headache trying to figure out which plain of reality we were in. Ian Johns, Times February 3, 2007 A plain is a flat bit of land. Spiritualists talk about people living on different planes of existence (on the earth plane). A bit like a dimension, or the seven heavens of Gnostic theology.

on the wain for on the wane When the moon diminishes, it wanes. A wain is a farm cart.

on X's tailcoats for coat-tails In the days when men wore tailcoats you clung to someone's coat-tails so that they pulled you in their wake to the corridors of power, the salons of the rich, the higher echelons of society or wherever you wanted to be.

onslaught for influx "An onslaught of refugees." An onslaught is an attack; an influx is a flood.

onus for emphasis, impetus, stigma The upshot of this onus on triumph, correction and normalisation is a rejection of difference. Rebecca Atkinson  Guardian February 4, 2006 An onus is a burden; emphasis is stress. It gave us the onus to... The word you're looking for is "momentum". A stigma is a disfiguring mark or label, like the mark of Cain.

opening gamble for opening gambit A gambit is a move in chess.

ornate for stylish. It's ornate in a simple sort of way (Bargain Hunt) Ornate means over-decorated.

ostensibly for originally Ostensibly means apparently; originally means in the beginning.

otiose for pompous The best Hollywood films are often the least ambitious: the more Hollywood tries to be "important", the more otiose it generally gets. Derek Malcolm, Guardian May 18 2000 Otioise means redundant; pompous means hifalutin'.

over-egg for over-emphasize "I think it's a mistake to over-egg the dietary-rules-have-a-survival-value argument." If you over-egg a pudding you make it too rich; adding too much elaboration to your story makes it less convincing, not more.

overthrown for thrown off After the shackles of colonialism were overthrown. (Time Jan 12 09) You overthrow a tyrant; you throw off shackles, which are things like handcuffs and fetters.

over-weening for dominant, too powerful Like any other overweaning trend, isn't it getting dull? Miranda Sawyer, Observer I have witnessed how inherently undemocratic socialism was, and that is why I don't want an overweening EU. Declan Ganley, founder of Libertas. "Overweening pride" means something like "overinflated opinion of yourself". People with overweening vanity esteem themselves too highly.