Many words in English can sound very similar, especially when they are very short words in the middle of a common phrase. You might hear these words spoken all the time, only to mishear them. When it comes time to write them down, the automatic spell check on your computer won’t pick it as an error, because it is technically not a spelling mistake. No squiggly red line means there’s no problem, right?

Not exactly. And the phrase “in this day and age” is a perfect example of that.

Every now and then, I’ll come across someone writing this as “in this day in age,” which doesn’t make much logical sense, but it also won’t come up as a spelling mistake. You also have to realize that the words “and” and “in” will sound very similar when spoken, especially if the speaker doesn’t enunciate the “d” sound in “and.”

This is precisely the same reason why someone may mistakenly say that two things are “one in the same” when they really mean to say that they are “one and the same.” And just like that idiomatic phrase, “in this day and age” is redundant, used mostly for emphasis and effect.

It is a figure of speech that can be simply defined as “now” or “in modern times.” You can break it down to say “in this day and in this age,” as “day” and “age” are used synonymously. It’s meant to talk about the world as it exists today.

  • It’s disappointing to see how systemic racism continues to persist in this day and age.
  • Given the widespread access to the Internet, you can easily learn about anything in this day and age.
  • In this day and age, fundamental computer skills are necessary for practically any career.
  • In this day and age, it’s not uncommon to change employers frequently.
  • Just about everyone is addicted to their smartphones in this day and age.

While I suppose it is technically possible to have one specific day exist within an age, “day in age” used in the context above would be incorrect. And even using “day and age” is very much a cliche, but cliches and memes are to be expected in this day and age.