Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Today a coworker admitted to a “hairballed idea” in an IM. A coworker said, “You mean a hairbrained idea?” “No,” said the first coworker, “I mean a hairballed idea. Hairbrained doesn’t even make sense.” Several other coworkers chimed in to say that “hairballed” was the correct version. When I mentioned “harebrained,” they thought I was crazy.
Anyone else encountered this one?
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I found 115 Google hits for “hairball scheme,” 154 for “hairball idea” (although not all in the same sense as “hairbrained idea”), and 54 for “hairball theory.”
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This seems to be a pretty sporadic one, though amusing. How many people in your office have cats?
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While on the subject, is “hairbrained” a fully fledged eggcorn, replacing as it does the original harebrained, meaning barmy or mad as in March hares?
Maybe if your hair grew inwards it would affect the workings of your brain? Is this the image people have?
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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Likely some degree of blending of hair/hare-brained with oddball is involved (along with everything else.)
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I keep hoping for a hairbald notion/idea to show up, but haven’t found it yet.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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DavidTuggy wrote:
I keep hoping for a hairbald notion/idea to show up, but haven’t found it yet.
Nice idea. Double yolker. It’s out there under hair bald.
Summer camp report
The Air Guitar went smoothly, and special mentions should be given to Chris Kelley for his hair-bald idea.
online fic
We haven’t slept together in that hair-bald scheme of being encore virgins in the last six weeks and you’re too tired tonight?
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Thanks!
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You are so good finding things, Tocayo. My hat’s off (showing the hairbald spot, no doubt).
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As a double-yolker, what does bald contribute, other than collocating (as an opposite) with hair ? Is the idea somehow that rational ideas have hair on them, but hairbald ones do not?
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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DavidTuggy wrote:
As a double-yolker, what does bald contribute, other than collocating (as an opposite) with hair ?
I misthunk that. I was focused on hairball/hairballed/hareballed as the acorn and so hairbald looked twin yolked, when really the yolks are indeterminate, being blenderized in some multidimensional way.
Is the idea somehow that rational ideas have hair on them, but hairbald ones do not?
Haha, exactly. As my sister always said, “Hey, what’s the big hairy idea?”
BTW: hareballed is out there as a nonce.
where else but a fanfic Drakken’s plan is rather amusing, maybe a little too hareballed for him, though.
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Hareballed certainly sends my thoughts down a different rabbit trail. Testosterone makes guys do pretty silly things at times, jumping around and behaving like rabbits in other ways …
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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