Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Maybe not an eggcorn, but there are about 84 google hits…
“No felony convictions or misdemeanor convictions involving moral perpitude, perjury, or making false statements.”
Then again maybe an eggcorn, “perp” being more commonly heard on cop shows as short for perpetrator – “moral perpitude” perhaps being thought of as meaning you are guilty of perpetrating some offense against morals…
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I was working on (moral) turpitude » perpitude today, but find posting delayed by a set of strange cites, which don’t fit the eggcorn:
I felt a certain ‘moral perpitude’ over and above my step brother, even as he warranted a certain worldly respect in the attentions the opposite sex gave him. http://groups.google.com.vn/group/alt.p … 3d13efbb25
He strived for nothing less than excellence with vigor and moral perpitude. http://www.e-yearbook.com/yearbooks/Uni … e_360.html
You are a hyocrite sycophant without moral perpitude. http://www.topix.com/forum/source/the-m … 0SF0UME/p2
Any thoughts on that? A mangled malaprop for “rectitude”?
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Negative ones strike me immediately as meaning “perp-ness†which I see as a really good eggcorn.
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The positive ones probably are affected by/blended with rectitude, as Chris suggests. With “turpitude†being such a rare/esoteric word for many, I would bet there are more than a few who are not really sure if it’s positive or negative, just vaguely remember that it is used for moral approval/censure. As one person commented (tongue-in-check, of course):
Oh man. And here I thought moral turpitude is what I’d use to get paint off my hands.
If this is right, one would expect to find examples of “turpitude†being used positively as well. I didn’t have time to look long just now.
Another likely possibility is that some degree of blending with proper is involved. Persistence in the pursuit of good, also, perhaps (as in “striving for excellence with vigor and moral perpitudeâ€)?
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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