Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
You are not logged in.
Registrations are currently closed because of a technical problem. Please send email to
The forum administrator reserves the right to request users to plausibly demonstrate that they are real people with an interest in the topic of eggcorns. Otherwise they may be removed with no further justification. Likewise, accounts that have not been used for posting may be removed.
Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
The “Word Detective” guy had a column on this some years ago in which he points out that while “Sam Hill” started out as a euphemism for “Hell,” we’ve taken the euphemism and turned it right back into a swear word. The column’s here: http://www.word-detective.com/080401.html
[You have to scroll down to where it says in blue letters “On a popsicle stick.”]
Blandford’s searches are smart—they show that the versions with “the” are far more popular. That indicates to me that while people are using the euphemism, they’re still thinking definitely thinking about “Hell”—you wouldn’t normally say “the Sam Hill” if talking about a person, but the definite article in “What in the Hell?” just seems to add a bit of grammatically acceptable drama.
Last edited by patschwieterman (2007-07-17 20:27:13)
Offline