The solution (to this and any other similar disagreement) is a simple 3-step process.
Step 1: Type both phrases (in quotations) into the Google search bar. Look for the number of times each is referenced. For example, "get your goat" returns approximately 189,000 results, whereas "get your goad" only returns 7,010. Fairly confident, but still possibly inconclusive.
Step 2: Visit Google's ngram tool (which tells you the number of times a given word or phrase has been cited in literature since the early 1800s) and produce a graph like the following:
Step 3: Depending on the results and the stance you maintained at the beginning, either show conclusively that you were correct and your friend was hopelessly misinformed, or firmly assert that it's dangerous to give the power to an Internet search engine to make any sort of linguistic determinations--after all, the computer is not intelligent!
Here are some other interesting graphs:
"bold faced lie" (426,000 searches) vs "bald faced lie" (478,000). Poor "bald face" fought mightily for quite a while. 2005 just wasn't a great year!!
My freshman english teacher hated this one:
"toe the line" (4,660,000) vs "tow the line" (1,080,000)
But you can also use it to choose a programming language,
predict the outcome of certain events,
or even play a super-sweet version of MASH!!
Clever! My favorite part was MASH. :)
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