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Chris -- 2018-04-11

#1 2007-07-19 23:20:45

klakritz
Eggcornista
From: Winchester Massachusetts
Registered: 2005-10-25
Posts: 674

'presence of mine' for 'presence of mind'

The database already has mind -> mine, so this is a sub-eggcorn. Perhaps the possessive ‘mine’ shows up because of the related idiom of ‘self-possession.’ Examples:

I love that someone had the presence of mine to say, “Take a picture of Louie cooking the chickens,” because who would have believed it otherwise?
www.thegirloutofbrooklyn.blogspot.com/

Horrified, she quickly started the car and drove off glad she had the presence of mine to lock her doors automatically when first re-entering her car.
www.associatedcontent.com/article/23353 … people.htm

So, your signature was always familiar to me from somewhere, and I only just had the presence of mine to blurt out, “Stevie Smith!”
rainbowreality.deviantart.com/

You must read this: You will laugh so hard! [...I wish I’d had the presence of mine to save the page when it was still up.
www.aota.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-6283.html

I had the presence of mine to jot down enough of the lyrics to find the song.
mission2moscow.blogspot.com/2006/06/rose-colored-glasses-hitting-too-close.html

Fortunately, I had had the presence of mine to order one more Whopper than my dining companion could eat…
blogcritics.org/archives/2004/08/10/015330.php

I’d had the presence of mine to not put on makeup before I left, so at least mascara wasn’t running down the side of my face.
charmingbutsingle.com/2006/02/28/weekend-update-eh-la-bas-edition/

Thankfully, Mrs. G. had the presence of mine to act quickly, despite finishing off half of their wine cellar, to call the paramedics ...
sgthook.com/2006/04/23/after-action-review/

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#2 2007-07-20 08:29:38

jorkel
Eggcornista
Registered: 2006-08-08
Posts: 1456

Re: 'presence of mine' for 'presence of mind'

I think this is the first convincing eggcorn I’ve seen for the mind/mine substitution.

The documentation in the Eggcorn Database for mind/mine invokes a different usage of “mine,” and deems the eggcornicity “questionable.” I would agree with that assessment for the idiomatic alterations discussed there.

There’s another post in the Forum on mind/mine (similar usage to the above) which also seems to be a bit of a stretch…

minefield of information by waspberry Contribute! 2 2007-04-10 06:25:53 by waspberry

Given all this, I don’t think you need to qualify your find as a subcategory of the others. Yours seems to be the most legitimate of the set.

Last edited by jorkel (2007-07-20 18:34:46)

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