Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2025-05-10
I’m surprised that the very common gorilla/guerrilla mix-up doesn’t seem to appear here – or is it that I don’t know how to use the search facility properly? It’s surely one which we’ve all encountered (gorilla fighters has 880,000 google hits), though admittedly in some cases it’s an intentional pun. But in many cases it is surely a classic cross-language eggcorn: unfamiliar Spanish word that from its context obviously means ‘unorganised and irregular fighting or fighters’ is re-spelt as a result of a folk-etymology that assumes it means ‘fighting like a wild animal’ – gorillas having a popular, though I believe unwarranted, reputation for ferocity and violence.
Last edited by Steve Fitzpatrick (2007-06-18 16:37:19)
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Welcome to the Eggcorn website. A previous posting of this topic is here:
gorilla warfare/guerilla warfare? by kikumieko3 Contribute! 2 2006-09-14 03:42:09 by kikumieko3
For some reason, a lot of people have trouble with the Search menu. (I think people try to enter phrases where only a single word should be entered). No big deal, even the eggcornistas on this site have reposted material on tucked away topics.
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