Browse eggcorns

Here is an alphabetical list of all eggcorns in the database:

| permanent link | Chris W. (admin), 2004/12/08 |

Commentaries

  1. 1

    Commentary by Bambu , 2005/02/16 at 8:19 am

    I’ve recently been driven nuts by ‘tombs’ for ‘tomes’ when an author is referring to books. I just had to share.

  2. 2

    Commentary by Frank C , 2005/02/24 at 10:04 pm

    I don’t know if “expatriot” is a proper eggcorn or not. When you leave your home country, you expatriate, and you become and expatriate, or “expat” Some people construe the term to be “expatriot” as that would seem to derive from “patriot”

    Good luck with the site,

    fc

  3. 3

    Commentary by anne messner , 2005/02/25 at 3:49 pm

    A recent newspaper headline discussing the end of the National Football season for this year: ” The results of parody.” Probably true, but not what was intended (parity). Perhaps not an egg corn but certainly feels like one!

  4. 4

    Commentary by Ken Lakritz , 2005/02/28 at 11:17 pm

    ‘error’ for ‘era’ See, for example,

    Inflation is much more persistent in the postwar error, in the sense that the
    coefficient on the lagged inflation term is much closer to 1.0 (implying …
    www.econ.iastate.edu/clas…

    A list of sites and topics detailing North Carolina during the pre-civil war error.
    www.welcometonc.com/categ… -

  5. 5

    Commentary by Ken Lakritz , 2005/02/28 at 11:30 pm

    ‘impassive resistance’ for ‘passive resistance. see,

    … I strongly believe that many of these so-called Indian Agents practiced a
    subtle impassive resistance campaign against the mobility of the Indian people …
    www.sicc.sk.ca/saskindian… - 7k - Cached - Similar pages

    … Some who recognize this distinction have interposed only impassive resistance:
    having grasped the deep flaws in the case for animal rights, …
    www.enterstageright.com/ archive/articles/0500rattlingcage.htm - 15k - Cached -

  6. 6

    Commentary by Lorraine Harland , 2005/03/02 at 4:07 am

    I live in Australia and there is a particular sports commentator on Australian TV who seems to delight in annoying me by referring to “a coach looking after his charger” (when we all know that a coach looks after his ‘charges’, or after a singular ‘charge’), and a player being “beset upon” when that player is either ‘beset’ or ’set upon’. Absolutely infuriating! ‘Love your site - it’s extremely amusing!

  7. 7

    Commentary by Liza , 2005/03/04 at 6:42 pm

    I am slowly being driven insane by the use of the word “draw” for “drawer.” This eggcorn is so widespread, at least here in the states, that it’s cropping up in advertisements for stores that carry “chests of draws” or “draw pulls.”

    I love your website!

  8. 8

    Commentary by Sharon , 2005/03/12 at 4:56 am

    There are eggcorns I never would’ve come across if not for the wonder of email lists. I am constantly amazed and amused by folks who are typing in “Walla!” for Voila!

  9. 9

    Commentary by Ken Lakritz , 2005/03/12 at 8:48 pm

    ‘eyes pealed’ for ‘eyes peeled.’ This gets 29,000 references on Google. What makes it an eggcorn, perhaps, is the sense of a peal as a summons to church or a call for attention. See,

    … Keep your eyes pealed and ears open people, it’s coming soon!
    www.plymouthmusic.co.uk/

    … Keep your eyes pealed for cairns and take care where you place your feet.
    www.toddshikingguide.com/ Hikes/Arizona/GrandCanyon/Canyon14.htm

    He is doing very awesome things and keep your ears and eyes pealed for him. …
    www.imperialdrag.com/chat…

  10. 10

    Commentary by Nigel Pond , 2005/03/13 at 4:44 pm

    Re: 8 - Voilà: probably as a result of some people thinking that “voilà” is pronounced “walla”…

  11. 11

    Commentary by Paul , 2005/03/29 at 3:34 pm

    Rod iron, instead of wrought iron, is so common (1,340,000 google hits) that it is even used on sites which have wrought iron in the name! See the first google hit.

  12. 12

    Commentary by Ken Lakritz , 2005/04/06 at 6:54 pm

    ‘guilt-edged’ for ‘gilt-edged.’ 3,800 references, many of which involve reinterpretation towards guilt rather than gilt, e.g.,

    Bush has demonstrated this irrationality all this life, from the guilt edged forgiveness of National Guard “service” responsibility to tax cuts…
    my-tarot.com/disturbing/a…

    … and sent them regular or irregular quantities of guilt-edged support money so that they might live happily (if sleeplessly) ever after…
    www.usq.edu.au/coppertale…

    …and I must confess that I got a guilt-edged charge from its brand of sadistic mischief. …
    www.panix.com/~dangelo/Ju…

    … a delightful ball through for Belletti who lifted the ball over the bar, and then Eto’o failed to make the most of another guilt-edged opportunity.
    soccernet.espn.go.com/rep…

  13. 13

    Commentary by Ken Lakritz , 2005/04/07 at 2:38 pm

    ‘wreckless’ for ‘reckless,’ especially in the phrase ‘wreckless driver,’ which appears 1500 times on Google. Many of these are without change in meaning. Some that do involve reinterpretation, or are ambiguous-

    …I used to be a wreckless driver, but then I hit a tree.
    www.crashed.net/forum/thr…

    … For example, if I am a wreckless driver and inspite of it lost one of my legs and someone came up to me and reminds me of the painful truth, it does not help me …
    banglacricket.com/alochon… fid=1&tid=7363&repquote=88977

    One of the proudest moments of my life, to find out I was that accomplished a wreckless driver.
    64.177.61.15/cgi-bin/discussion/showthreaded. plCat=&Board=support&Number=46999&page=5&v

    im not scared of minxeh i taught her all she knows about being a wreckless driver an she still has much to learn…
    www.ukterrorist.com/news/…

    … trusting the most wreckless driver (myself) to drive up the icy, curvy roads to Mt. Baker. …
    www.johnandkristie.com/ar…

  14. 14

    Commentary by Stuart Newman , 2005/04/15 at 2:57 am

    ‘Coup de grace,’ French for death blow, becomes ‘coupe de grace’ (death car?) echoing ‘coupe de ville,’ or ‘coup de gras’ (stroke of fat?) in line with ‘pate de foie gras.’ ‘Coupe de gras’ (phat ride) is another variation.

  15. 15

    Commentary by RAD , 2005/04/21 at 7:30 pm

    myocardial “infraction” instead of infarction - either your heart has commited a foul, or it is broken into pieces

  16. 16

    Commentary by Laurie , 2005/05/13 at 2:14 pm

    I have noticed for several years the use of “momento” instead of “memento” which,
    according to the Oxford Australian Concise Dictionary is an object serving as reminder or
    warning, or kept as memorial of person or event (L, imper. of meminisse remember).

  17. 17

    Commentary by Anne , 2005/05/18 at 5:35 pm

    “Could of” (should of, would of) in place of “could’ve” (etc). I get this from students all the time, and I think it’s more than a spelling error.

  18. 18

    Commentary by mark , 2005/06/03 at 6:07 pm

    I see “whirlwind”, especially as in “whirlwind tour”, written as “worldwind” or “world wind”.

  19. 19

    Commentary by Donna , 2005/06/08 at 5:41 am

    Here’s my gripe: “yeah” instead of “yea” or “yay”, meaning “Hooray!” or even “Woohoo!”. I know that yeah, yea, yay, etc. are all actually variants of yea, but to me “yeah” is pronounced differently and is the casual form of “yes”, usually used by 12-year old girls and said in a sullen tone of voice. Or is that just here at my house?

    I’m actually not even sure how you would spell “yea” when using it to mean “Hooray!” instead of “truly”. (”Yea, though I walk through the valley…”). I found 523 Google entries for “yea team”, 994 for “yeah team”, (but many of those refer to an organization with the acronym YEAH in the name) and 3,910 for “yay team”.

    Random House agrees that the word “yeah” is always pronounced “yeh” and is a slang form of yes.

  20. 20

    Commentary by Andy Lester , 2005/07/04 at 6:54 am

    And whip cream instead of whipped cream.

  21. 21

    Commentary by Judy Deegan , 2005/07/05 at 5:22 pm

    I’ve seen “sue chef” used for “sous chef” a couple of times–once on a menu where the chef was listed as having been sue chef at another, more famous, restaurant.

    Another word I hear more often than see is “supposably” for “supposedly”.

  22. 22

    Commentary by Peg Boyles , 2005/07/09 at 11:58 pm

    Among the many eggcorns planted (or is it laid?) in student essays, I love the “pullet surprise” best [as in “In 1957, Eugene O’Neill won a Pullet Surprise.”]

    You can find this one and a lot more good eggcorns in Richard Lederer’s many books.

  23. 23

    Commentary by Loretta Woodward , 2005/08/09 at 7:01 am

    “nightly mediation” for “nightly meditation”

  24. 24

    Commentary by Loretta Woodward , 2005/08/09 at 7:09 am

    “above the fruited plane” for “above the fruited plain”

  25. 25

    Commentary by Loretta Woodward , 2005/08/09 at 7:27 am

    “crossed the veil” (as in “kicked the bucket” vs. “crossed the vale”

  26. 26

    Commentary by Lee Rudolph , 2005/09/07 at 10:39 am

    “Must less” for “much less”.

    I noticed this for the first time in a Usenet posting to sci.math.research.

    “unfortunately developments have spread into areas
    increasingly isolated by artificial barriers of
    terminology and notation which make it difficult for
    researchers (must less students) to grasp the big
    picture”
    (Message-ID: )

    A Google search quickly turned up many other instances.

    stick with chips and cocktails, they’re not living
    things, must less likely to lip off.
    (talkleft.com/new_archives…)

    With any luck this cretin won’t survive 15 days in
    prison, must less 15 years.
    (www.freerepublic.com/focu…)

    A little planet with a population in the billions is not
    going to fill up the Solar System nor Galaxy, must less
    the vacant area of the Universe.
    (www.x10hosting.com/archiv…)

    Of course these could all be mere typographical errors. Evidence *against* that is, I think, that the Google corpus has (as of this moment) no instances at all of “so must the worse”, and only two relevant ones (and two irrelevant ones) of “so must the better”.

    I don’t have a fully formulated hypothesis on the semantics. My guess is that (1) the canonical use of “much less” is as a rhetorical device to bolster the speaker’s claim that X is necessarily true by asserting that a particularly exaggerated version of NOT-X is manifestly false, and (2) the “necessity” leaks out of the argument and into “much”, transforming it to the modal of necessity, “must”

  27. 27

    Commentary by Adrian Bailey , 2005/09/23 at 11:40 am

    Follow-up to Judy Deegan’s comment. There are quite a few examples of “sue chef”. I like this one: “I was born in the Kitchen at the Savoy Hotel, my mother was head sue Chef at the time.” wwwusers.brookes.ac.uk/99…

  28. 28

    Commentary by Jennifer R. Sexton , 2005/10/24 at 5:12 am

    a transfusion of “blue coat” rather than “glucose”

    an artery into which a “stench” rather than a “stent” has been placed

    He was driving a “snag-war” (rather than a “Jaguar”).

    After teaching three years, she received her “ten-year”
    (rather than her tenure).

    “sick as hell” anemia —rather than “sickle cell” anemia

    She took shots of “insolent” (rather than of “insulin”).

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