Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2025-05-10
I was watching Big Brother 8 when a ditzy girl said she got off “scotch free.” Well if you think of the powers of the product Scotchguard that protects fabrics from staining thus allowing crap to easily flow off and not stick. Same idea as the current usage of the phrase getting off “scot free,” no? Eggcorn? I’m new. Hope I don’t look like an idiot like the BB8 chick…
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Welcome woodnymph79. I was about to say that “scot” and “scotch” were too close to one another in their etymology until you provided your explanation. The way you have framed the imagery would indeed suggest a legitimate eggcorn to me. Perhaps we can locate some more examples on the Web. I’d sure like to know if people actually think about the imagery the way you have described it, because it sounds really innovative.
Last edited by jorkel (2007-07-10 20:35:40)
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