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lost » loss

Chiefly in:   no love loss

Classification: English – final d/t-deletion – idiom-related

Spotted in the wild:

  • Now naturally, the Shiites, as you were saying earlier, have no love loss for the Iraqi leader President Saddam Hussein. (CNN transcript, Apr. 2, 2003)
  • For Red Sox fans, especially in New England, there is no love loss between the two teams. (New Paltz Oracle, Oct. 16, 2003)
  • Those games are always competitive and fiery and there is certainly no love loss between us. (Amherst College Athletics, Mar. 10, 2005)
  • No love loss between Williams and Sharapova. (Edinburgh News, June 29, 2005)
  • Really, no love loss between the two of you certainly now. (CNN transcript, Oct. 12, 2005)
  • Sobule has no love loss for the Bush administration. (WorldNetDaily, Feb. 16, 2006)
  • No love loss for Zhang Ziyi in Hong Kong. (USA Today, Mar. 27, 2006)
  • Mind you, I’ve got no love loss for Phoenix. (Arizona Daily Star, UA Fans Sports Blog, May 17, 2006)

The idiom “no love lost,” i.e., ‘no love that is lost,’ is reinterpreted as “no love loss,” i.e., ‘no loss of love.’ Since lost and loss are closely related, this eggcorn is rather subtle — so subtle that it has even worked its way into newspaper headlines (Edinburgh News, USA Today).

The reinterpretation may help to clarify the idiom, since “(there is) no love lost” has never been particularly transparent. As the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms explains, the expression actually had two contrary senses through the 18th century: implying either extreme affection or extreme dislike. The latter sense eventually won out.

In the Eggcorn Forum Sphinxie notes the reverse substitution from loss to lost, as in “I am sorry for your lost” (appearing frequently in online memorials and guest books).

| comment | link | entered by Ben Zimmer, 2006/05/18 |

Sanskrit » sandscript

Classification: English – final d/t-deletion

Spotted in the wild:

  • adam and eve were not the original two in creation. lilith was edited out of the bible, but she is in the old sandscript documents antd the old jewish religion. you can probably find it in google somewhere. (Comparative Religion forum, Feb 21, 2005)
  • Yama is the sandscript term encompassing concepts of social restraint such as non-violence, non-stealing, truthfulness, non-attachment and moderation. Niyama, also a sandscript term, refers to internal restraints including contentment, purity, self-study, discipline and surrender. (The Yoga Loft)
  • One question - does anyone here have the ability to write sandscript, arabic, or something along those lines….? (WipeOut Forum, March 31, 2004)

On May 15, 2005, Christophe B. enquired via e-mail:

Are you interested only in written or also spoken eggcorns?

I am very intrigued by some wods I hear spoken by people who are intelligent but who clearly do not read, so that they use words from a average- to advanced vocabulary in a way that reflects having only heard them… an example of this is one I often hear: “Sandscript” (for Sanskrit). […]

Well, first of all thanks for the excellent eggcorn Sanskrit»sandscript. The examples show that it does indeed exist in written form as well, with the variants sand script and sandscrit.

Second, Christophe’s question is an interesting one. To me, a reshaping of any aspect of a word or idiom (spelling, pronunciation, …) that is clearly linked to a new way to make sense of the original material, is much more eggcornish than a random misspelling that just happens to coincide with a pre-existing term. This would be true even in cases where the spelling doesn’t change (where homographs, like tear/tear etc., are involved): these would then have to be classified as “hidden eggcorns”.

| 1 comment | link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2006/05/16 |

track » tract

Classification: English – final d/t-deletion

Spotted in the wild:

  • “What software do you guys use to keep tract of the many different programs you all are in? I mean as far as the dividends and spends go and…” (link)
  • “Tenure Tract Associate/Full Professor, Genetics Specialty. School of Nursing. Clemson University invites applications for the position of…” (link)
  • “Other options include recessed or tract lighting above buffets or breakfronts.” (link)

Analyzed or reported by:

  • Wade Hassler (link)
  • David Bowie (ADS-L, 2 May 2006)

Hassler’s comment (of 25 February 2005) in the database cited “keep tract of”. Bowie reported: ” I just got final projects in from the students in my graduate class, and one of them consistently writes about ‘tracts’ within the English major in her introduction,” and added that “‘tracts’ makes sense, if one thinks of the definition of something relatively small and separate from other tracts in the area.” Following up on Bowie, Larry Horn cited “tenure tract” (seconded by Beverly Flanigan, who noted that this one had even been used by members of her department) and “tract lighting” (lighting appropriate for tract houses, presumably).

The opposite reshaping, “tract” >> “track” is already in the database, here.

| comment | link | entered by Arnold Zwicky, 2006/05/02 |

mast » mass

Chiefly in:   flying a flag at half-mass

Classification: English – final d/t-deletion – idiom-related

Spotted in the wild:

  • Flying Your Flag Half Mass
    When you are on the court and tragedy strikes or some unexpected disturbing event leaves you injured to the very core, you must step back and allow yourself to feel the pain. It is time to fly your flag at half mass. (DesignerLife Learning Cafe)
  • The flag is flown at half mass, or in the middle of the flagpole, on Memorial Day. People do that to honor those Americans who died fighting for their country. (link)
  • Has anyone been to Disney since the attack on the USA? I keep receiving e-mails that Disney refuses to fly flags at half mass. (The Magical Mouse forum, September 19, 2001)
  • […]
    The book you have written and passed to your troops
    Is missing some lines and some very big loops
    A country in morning for loved ones that past
    A country that stands by its flag at half mass
    […] (Sgt. Moms)
  • the flag flew at half-mass today
    to cover the scars, to cover the pain
    all the heads are hung in shame
    the flag flew at half-mass today
    […] (Almost Smart, Writer's Forum, Jan 24, 2004)

Analyzed or reported by:

| 4 comments | link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2005/10/27 |

ham-fisted » hand fisted

Variant(s):  handfisted, hand-fisted

Classification: English – final d/t-deletion

Spotted in the wild:

  • The public sector unions aren’t going to let a team of handfisted amateurs take their overtime away. (Jane Galt at Asymmetrical Information, blog entry, August 11, 2004)
  • This goes back pre-9/11 to the transformation that Rumsfeld and people associated with him tried to do to the military, which hurt the army, helped some other parts. And he did it in a hand fisted way, which is his style, and he made a lot of people angry. (PBS, transcript of an interview with David Brooks, April 4, 2003)
  • However, this is a bit of a handfisted way of making copies and is what we in the trade call “lossy”. (uk.media.dvd, Dec 7, 2001)
  • However, the Bush Administration did not make quite that same argument. They could have but they didn’t. Was that just hand-fistedness? […] As indeed The New York Times has in a rather hand-fisted way confirmed for us now. (Hoover Institution, interview transcript, presenter Peter Robinson speaking, March 25, 2005)

Analyzed or reported by:

  • Linda Seebach via Mark Liberman at Language Log (Hand fisted, August 14, 2004)

Pat Schwieterman reminded us in the forum that this relatively old and well-documented find was still absent from the collection.

| comment | link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2005/10/26 |
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