Excuse me, where is the lieu?

ARGH!

You know how I am about misspelled words, especially from a business standpoint. (Right now there is a sign on the main office door at work that begins "During the peek season, please use this office for office-related duties only." Um, okay, so that means... no photocopying your butt in case someone's peeking?)

That isn't what I'm going off about today, however. Today it's my otherwise-intelligent, college-educated boss's continuous misuse of the phrase "in lieu of." No less than three times a day (that I personally hear, so it could be more often) he will say a variation of the following:

"In lieu of the fact that the sun is shining, you should plan on watering all the petunias."

Not "in view of" or "considering" or "due to the fact" but instead of... which makes zero sense. Today he said "In lieu of what you have planned to water today, please keep an eye on the water level." I wanted to ask him "So... if I'm not using the water, you really think it'll go down?" Sadly, he wouldn't get it and I'd have to explain and I'd be the one looking like a nitpick for correcting him on a triviality in the first place. But it drives me crazy!

This is just one of many common words or phrases that get mangled on a daily basis. I might use a few myself, but in most cases it's deliberate and spoken with a wink. My boss, as I said, is a very smart, knowledgeable guy; it bothers me to see him inadvertently demean his intelligence in front of his superiors. It also bothers me to think that someone is peaking at me when I'm making copies...