Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
The Fulbright scholarship program is, of course, named in honor of the late US senator J. William Fulbright.
Lately, I’ve started to hear the phrase ‘full ride scholarship’ to describe a financial award that covers all the expenses of attending a school. I think it’s an amalgam of ‘full scholarship,’ and the idiom ‘free ride.’ But since a ‘free rider’ is someone who derives a unearned benefit from the efforts of others, the term has a slightly unsavory connotation; economists, for example talk about ‘free rider problems’ and how to avoid them. Giving out a ‘free ride scholarship’ wouldn’t sound quite right.
In any case, anyone used to talking about ‘full ride scholarships’ should have no trouble making the leap to ‘full bright scholarships’-i.e., full scholarships for bright people. Some examples:
Prof Leslie Swartz was granted an Alumnus Full Bright Scholarship to continue his work on culture and mental health in the USA. academic.sun.ac.za/psychology/english/archive2004.htm
Bangalore professor gets america`s full bright scholarship.
thatskannada.oneindia.in/news/2000/09/24/scholer.html
And then there is this full bright scholarship for america too. ... One should be able to get HEC or full bright scholarship with these credentials.
www.thevisaguide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=57
She was sent abroad on Full Bright scholarship to USA in 1960. She came back successfully, loaded with training and techniques of teaching.
www.adhunika.org/heroes/n_fyzennessa.html
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A perp confession (from a contributor to my daughter’s website):
In highschool I thought the fulbright scholarships meant full ride scholarships until I saw it written down. For years I thought the phrase Dog eat dog world was Doggy Dog world which I see now is an eggcorn! I love this video thank you for sharing!!!!!
Ken seems to think of “full ride scholarship†as formed independently of “Fulbright Scholarshipâ€. I agree that it may well be and probably is for at least some people. But for others, like this woman, I think it may be a fullblown eggcorn.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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