Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
Crawfish are crustaceans, so unlike other “fish” they crawl. 1900 ghits, but most of them aren’t the eggcorn. Examples:
Lying there, its claws raised menacingly, was the largest crawlfish he had ever seen.
http://sycamorerpc.blogspot.com/2006/06 … caper.html
Then there was the crawlfish! Most of them died before I could cook them.
http://blog.myspace.com/145144320
In SC you and the bride can register at *Billy Bobs catfish, crawlfish, and liquor.
http://forums.13x.com/showthread.php?t=17298&page=2
I saw two chicks, one a looker and the other not so much, get behind the port-a-john for a extended lusty kiss at the Crawlfish Boil over the weekend.
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/arc … 33436.html
Since we’ve been talking a lot about folk etymology recently, it might be worth mentioning that
“crayfish” comes from the Old French “crevice” – which has nothing to do with fish. (In fact, the word is ultimately derived from a cognate of English “crab.”) But that final syllable sounded a bit like “fish,” and the word became “crayfish” in English. For some reason, “crawfish” – a dialectal variant in parts of England – became the standard term in the US. And when I was growing up, we called them “crawdads.” About 280 raw hits for “crawldads.”
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I’ve never heard “crawlfish”, but I will confess it’s a good one. It’s got to be as you say; they do indeed crawl. I also called them crawdads when I was growing up. Occasionally I would even hear or say crawdeads, and there are a few hits for that and, believe it or not; crawldead. I have no explanation for the dead part. I can’t think of any imagery or reasoning to explain it except that it was just misheard….although crawfish are scavangers and sometimes live in stagnant, stinky areas. I think the crawlfish fits the eggcorn model much more neatly. Thanks for another laugh!
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And thanks for “crawdeads”! Never heard that one out here, but as you say there’re a fair number of authentic hits. Sorta makes sense. They can be awfully inactive—sometimes they seem to be just standing there on the bottom of the creek for long periods of time, enjoying the passing current. Or maybe they’re thinking about the psychic burden of being “a pair of ragged claws / Scuttling across the floors of silent [streams].” T. S. Eliot was a Midwesterner—I prefer to believe he was thinking about crawdads.
Interesting that you’ve never heard “crawlfish” in Texas. Most of the hits I could pinpoint were from the South, but east or north of you—and it seems to be present in Indiana and Ohio.
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