dander » gander
Spotted in the wild:
- [Y]ou are a git, a stupid arrogant git at that, you’ve hurled ridiculous, childish paranoia at people I respect, you’ve argued irrationally and you have succeeded in getting my gander up (you grotty little man) with every one of your posts. (rec.arts.drwho)
- However it was Carnfoth who were first on the scoresheet scoring under the posts. This got the Littlemoor men’s gander up and they were soon marching forward into enemy territory, the pack making the hard yards with some powerful driving mauls. (Rugby match report)
Analyzed or reported by:
- Francis Heaney (Dander! Dander, Will Robinson!)
Mark Liberman notes that dander in this expression is not a synonym of cat scurf. Therefore, dander itself would have to be counted as a former hidden eggcorn that has found its way into folk etymology.
As a speculation, the alliteration get one’s gander up may have played a role in the substitution dander > gander (in conjunction with the image of angry fowl).
1
Commentary by Ben Zimmer , 2005/02/15 at 11:00 pm
Another eggcornification of this phrase, perhaps worthy of its own entry, changes “dander” to “dandruff” (see Paul Brians’ Common Errors in English).
2
Commentary by Robert Shipiro , 2006/09/02 at 5:20 am
Oh Fug it!!