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Chris -- 2018-04-11
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Celebrity eggcorn! Gary Shteyngart was quoted in the Boston Globe Sidekick magazine in an eponymous article by Ami Albernaz on May 11. The entire quote: “I come from two anxiety-ridden cultures – Russian and Jewish – in which you feel your chances of survival are being trammeled upon.”
“Trammeled” has some relevance in the conext, but “trammeled upon” is a concoction derived from “trampled upon”. Still, “trammeled upon” has a zany appropriateness, and I admire the creative Shteyngart for having produced it.
I have asked the Sidekick editor, Katie Johnston Chase, to confirm the accuracy of this quote, as it could easily be a transcription error. I hope not.
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For the sake of others who may not know, “trammel” means to confine or hamper. I find it curious that a more familiar word (trampled) is being replaced by a less familiar word (trammeled). I wonder if the utterer truly understands the definition of the latter.
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237 google hits for “trammeled upon,” and 27 more for “trammelled upon,” both searches done in quotes.
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There’s a website that discusses word origins, and the link below (to that site) addresses the trammel issue…
phrases commonly used incorrectly.”Trammel upon” makes no sense. Except for an old sense of “fishing with a … Justice Story’s use of trammel upon actually strengthens the case that trammel …
p211.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm18.showMessageRange?topicID=284.topic&start=21&stop=40 – 33k – Supplemental Result – Cached – Similar pages
A few excerpts which cite precedent…
Justice Story wrote, “The militia is the natural defense of a free country against sudden foreign invasions, domestic usurpation of power by rulers. It is against sound policy for a free people to keep up large military establishments and standing armies in time of peace, both from the enormous expense with which they afford ambitious and unprincipled rulers to subvert the government, or trammel upon the rights of the people. The rights of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary powers of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them.”
Reference: Joseph Story. Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States. 3 vols. Boston, Mass.: Hilliard, Gray, 1833, 2: 607
That’s a very odd passage. “Trammel upon” makes no sense. Except for an old sense of “fishing with a trammel-net”, “trammel” is always shown as transitive in the OED2 (not intranstitive as in that passage), and never constructed with “upon”. It makes about as much sense as “hinder upon” or “hamper upon”. One can trammel rights, but not trammel upon them.
Also note that the OED2 cites the figurative sense of “trample” (intranstive, usu. with “on” or “upon”) in the sense ” fig. To treat with contempt; to violate the claims or rights of; to domineer or tyrannize over; to encroach upon the rights of (obs.)” from 1646. Figurative applications of the intransitive sense of “To tread heavily and (esp.) injuriously upon; to crush, break down, or destroy by heavy treading;” are cited from 1583.
“To trample (upon) somone’s rights” is a perfectly natural application of these senses, that doesn’t require confusion with “trammel” to explain it.
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For the record, the author of the article claims that her written notes said “trammeled”, but that she believes the word spoken was “trampled”. Either way, an eggcorn was committed by someone along the line from speaker to editor.
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Today I submitted an eggcorn to the Forum which is the reverse eggcorn of this one, and I only stumbled upon this old thread when I went back later to do a word search. I thought it was prudent to comment and bring this older post to the top of the stack.
I’ll just add that “trammeled” is a perfectly legitimate word in it’s own right, and it is even used legislation related to public land. (This is the starting point of the other post).
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