I've also not yet found a use for GoF "Design Patterns" in my code. The coderati appears to have latched on to the GoF book, and it is now expected in the majority of companies that you know them and apply them. Just today I had an interview and was asked which patterns I knew and had used, and how I would apply them to an enterprise app for a major bank.
The generic idea of learning from our previous projects obviously makes sense. What doesn't make sense is the hype and cult around the specific GoF patterns, people mistaking them for good-coding practice, and being expected to love and embrace them in order to be called a competent developer.
So to answer your question, I'd say the GoF idea of design patterns is misunderstood and overused by most. We need to mature into a higher-level use of design patterns as a general learning tool that applies to the way we learn and refine OO--not just as 20 cookie-cutter ideas to memorize and impose on programs. There is no silver bullet.
