Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
I couldn’t find this in the database, but there doesn’t seem to be any way of browsing it alphabetically? I tried a search for “lead on” and came up empty handed.
Most of the ghits for “Lead on, MacDuff” are cases of people correcting the phrase, or stating it as a common misunderstanding, but at least this guy (named Macduff) seems to really believe it’s “Lead on”:
http://www.macduffdesign.com/about.html
Also, I think it’s clear that the people who misquote it as “Lead on” really do have a different idea of the meaning, since they use it in the context of asking someone to lead them, which is quite different from the original context in Macbeth:
“Lay on, MacDuff, and damn’d be him that first cries ‘Hold, enough!’”
Last edited by Day Vid (2007-07-09 19:28:04)
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To browse the eggcorns, click on “Eggcorn Database” at the top left of this page. There’ll be a column on the right of the page that comes up, and click on “browse eggcorns” near the top of the column.
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I know this is a common error. People use “lead on” to mean “you start us off then” and in this sense it has a similar enough meaning to Shakespeare’s intention – goading Macduff to begin a fight (if I remember my school studies).
I the UK at least, the incorrect version was popularised by Tony Hancock in the episode of his Hancock’s Half Hour radio show titled “The Blood Donor”. He uses it when speaking to the Scottish doctor who is to take his blood, and means it in the sense of “lead the way [into your office]” as far as I can tell.
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will buy a ridiculous hat – Scott Adams (author of Dilbert)
Build a man a fire and he will be warm for a day; set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life – Terry Pratchett
http://blog.meteorit.co.uk
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