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barred » barrel

Chiefly in:   no holds barrel

Variant(s):  no holds barreled

Classification: English – vocalized /l/ – idiom-related

Spotted in the wild:

  • Looking at the sex scene in Bangkok and other areas of Thailand on any night about town. This is a no-holds-barrel report with places, attractions, prices and what to really expect. (link)
  • The discussion leader was energetic and informative. He was truthful in his presentation and his ‘no holds barrel’ approach makes the realism of this course so much more believable. (link)
  • It could have been great: JC making a real, excessive, no-holds-barreled, hong-kong movie… (link)
  • About the information published, it is absolutely ground breaking and no holds barrelled. Keep it up! (link)
  • Described as a no-holds barrel death match, Battle Mode can be quite exhilarating thanks to the jump pads spaced throughout the rolling hills. (link)
  • Ken Shamrock, the first King of Pancrase, three-time Ultimate Fighting Superfight Champion, winner of numerous bar brawls and Toughman wars, widely regarded as the finest no-holds-barrel fighter in the world, is being booed. (link)

Phonetically, no holds barrel(ed) involves an old acquaintance: the vocalized /l/, which we’ve already documented in wheel barrow>wheel barrel, bogged down>balked down and handful>hand few.

Semantically, this eggcorn is a little more obscure. The wrestling metaphor (”no manner of grasping the opponent is forbidden”) has been lost, but what is it replaced with? The idea of barrels that don’t hold whatever they supposedly contain? Barrels without handles, so that you can’t hold on to them?

As for the form in /-ed/, we know of double-, single-, long-, or short-barreled guns, and barreled beer.

Exactly what meaning or underlying metaphor inspired the various occurrences is not entirely clear.

See also no holes barred.

| comment | link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2005/02/11 |

bogged down » balked down

Classification: English – vocalized /l/

Spotted in the wild:

  • I must say right here, to a large extend I have to agree with Coletti, who is not so balked down with quotes from other holocaust Revisionists as Widmann seems to be. (link)
  • Well we are doing it. We just got balked down again. Maybe we got balked down so that we can move ahead. This is definitely couple of months worth of work, is it not, Mr. Davis? (link)

Analyzed or reported by:

| comment | link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2004/12/09 |

barrow » barrel

Chiefly in:   wheel barrel

Classification: English – vocalized /l/

Spotted in the wild:

  • I got my wheel barrel and shovel out and was preparing to lay the gravel and the neighbors laughed at me. (Light blogging, heavy machinery, by Joi Ito)
  • Glue the wheels to both sides of the cup (open end facing up). The handle is the wheel barrel handle! Next, put dirt in the wheel barrel. Plant any flower you like (geraniums do well). Recycling is fun! (perpetualpreschool.com)

Analyzed or reported by:

Arnold Zwicky (see link above) refers to a discussion on ADS-L (04/08/11-12) and points out “the vocalization of [l] that would make barrel and barrow homophonous, or nearly so”.

| 2 comments | link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2004/12/04 |

handful » hand few

Classification: English – vocalized /l/

Spotted in the wild:

  • This includes a few women (no more than a hand few). (E2)
  • Out of the seventy families in this village, only a hand few are literate and almost all work as labourers because they do not own land. (Unesco, Dec 11, 2006)
  • Only a hand few of the characters look as though they have had some serious time spent developing them. (uk.gamesport.com, game review, Nov 9, 2006)
  • As funny as it sounds you are only a hand few of people who get where my name comes from lol. (Ukulele Underground forum, June 19, 2008)

Analyzed or reported by:

  • an entangled bank (link)
| Comments Off link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2004/12/04 |
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