Eggcorn Forum

How about this one? I see that in the database there already exists a reference to those who would “wile away” their time rather than “whiling” it away. In the article below from the The San Francisco Chronicle, Dana King, a local news anchor, makes an unwitting contribution as she speaks of “whittling” time away, as if it were a big block of balsa wood. Perhaps her subconscious gets in on the act because she’s referring to the Pine Cone Diner. (Are there eggcorns littering the walkway?) One might shudder to consider the amount of temporal timber that bites (becomes?) the dust in a discussion of one particular tattoo on one particular bod. (Must be a doozy—maybe it’ll make it into a feature on Eyewitness News!) And hey, I suppose if I were equipped with the intellect of a news anchor, once I’d expended my mental energy discussing the tattoo, I’d abandon those wearying tomes in favor of the big dog as often as not.

The paragraph in question, from the article dated 7/8/07:

Pine Cone Diner, 60 Fourth St., Point Reyes Station. “The food is outstanding. It is a real diner with booths and counter seats that spin. The food is mostly locally grown. There is often a wait during summer months for breakfast/lunch but well worth it. You can whittle away the time by talking to the owner Joanie about her fabulous tattoo. Just make sure she’s not too busy. Or you could go next door to Manfred’s bookstore to peruse the selection or just pet the horse-sized dog that is the store’s namesake.”

The article in its entirety, just in case you think I’m making this stuff up:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c … 01&sc=1000