Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
Google hits on March 18, 2007:
“One fell swoop” – 990,000
“One swell swoop” – 698
Analysis by Joe Krozel
Other eggcorns of “one fell swoop” were already discussed in this forum, but I’m proposing the current variation since it is based upon alliteration rather than the usual sound alteration; To be certain, “swell” would not be generated from a mishearing of “fell” but from a sound transferal from “swoop.” This mechanism may be unprecedented among eggcorns, but I propose that it is legitimate.
As with many other eggcorns, the proposed construction also could be generated intentionally and thereby fall into more than one linguistic category depending on the situation. It is even possible that “one swell swoop” could be generated “semi-intentionally” by an uncorrected error on the part of a speaker—and subsequent adoption by a second speaker. But, it is my belief that a true eggcorn 1. must originate with the utterer, and 2. must occur without the utterer knowing that the usage has been modified. I suspect there are situations where “one swell swoop” would meet these criteria, but there is clearly no way of knowing without a confession from the utterer subsequent to his learning the true usage.
Examples:
July — tomster.orgI ever really started using instant messaging when iChat started supporting AIM, which opened up a whole lot of contacts in one swell swoop. ...
tomster.org/blog/archive/2005/07 – 58k – Cached – Similar pages
Taxable Talk Neteller, the DOJ, and the IRSNeteller, in one swell swoop, lost over half of its business. Ignoring whether or not such business was legal, assume you were running Neteller. ...
www.taxabletalk.com/posts/1170966022.shtml – 19k – Cached – Similar pages
Would you believe. « TheYellowDuckPondThe moon was not reached in one swell swoop, but step by step, one problem at a time. And every voyage brought its own trials and tribulations. ...
yellowduckpond.wordpress.com/2007/01/31/306/ – 36k – Cached – Similar pages
Last edited by jorkel (2007-03-18 06:08:17)
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