Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
One of the managers at a staff meeting today mentioned that interest in a particular strategy had “tailored off”.
I’ve also found at least one example on the web: “Initially, this role will involve a lot of support but then this will tailor off into purely an engineering role.”
http://www.clickajob.co.uk/uk-jobs/Birm … ngham.html
regards
Ben
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Ben, looks like an eggcorn to me, complete with the alternative image of a tailor, scissors at the ready, meticulously finishing the job in hand. Googling “tailored off” gave 1,280 hits, many relevant, and “tailor off” had 1,680 with many, again, eggcornish. A nice find!
Peter
What happens when they start seeing subscriptions slow down, then begin to tailor off? It may only be a year or so down the road – you never know. ...
www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=News … nd&sid=909 – 39k – Cached
“You can see the last five years the way the snow season has started to tailor off – we should be starting to get really busy.” ...
canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?story_id=480112 – 99k – Cached
I know we have the “big cat” sightings, but they seemed have tailored off recently. Any suggestions for a Caithness “Nessy”? ...
forum.caithness.org/showthread.php?t=6080 – 43k – Supplemental Result – Cached
Once the depression has lifted and things have been stable for a while, the drugs are then tailored off. Alternatively, they may be changed or stopped if …
www.bbc.co.uk/health/ask_the_doctor/pos … ants.shtml – 31k – Cached
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I was about to start a separate thread on a related topic: the difference between “tail off” and “trail off.” But, I wasn’t sure what needed to be said…
Google counts on May 30, 2007
120,000 “voice trailed off”
4280 “voice tailed off”—probably a malapropism or misusage rather than an eggcorn
“Tail off” means “to gradually lessen,” and “trail off” means “to become quieter.” I’m sure these two get interchanged all the time. For instance…
Gen Kanai weblog: Pooh and NikonMF His voice tailed off, and he shook his head vigorously trying to shake the sleep out through his ears. “What sort of bear are you, Pooh? ...
www.kanai.net/weblog/archive/2001/03/25/20h10m18s – 13k – Cached – Similar pages
The only imagery that would suggest an eggcorn to me would be a cartoon bubble where someone’s words get smaller and begin to take the shape of a tail, but I think this is a bit of a stretch.
(Sorry for the above side note. I really liked the “tailor off” eggcorn.)
Last edited by jorkel (2007-05-30 09:42:58)
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Thanks for your prompt responses, folks! I’ve been hearing eggcorns for years, and didn’t consider them to be different from malapropisms until I read the piece in New Scientist magazine’s feedback section a year or so ago which defined eggcorns and provided some hilarious examples. Then I found this terrific website – yes, I do sometimes point my correspondents at these pages!
I’m in Ireland – people here pepper their conversation with eggcorns constantly. Expect more gems…
regards
Ben
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