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#1 2007-12-26 22:31:58

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

'pick up your ears' for 'prick up your ears'

Since pricked up ears are those that are upright with attention, the meaning of the 2 phrases is fairly close, and the newer version is nearly mainstream (13k vs 130k). Examples:

But before you plunk down your cash, pick up your ears and find our what you’re in for this movie season ...
www.drinkatwork.com/art053104.html

Pick up your ears, Earth! Jenny Robson’s voice is definitely world-class.
cdbaby.com/cd/robson

If you are on the way, pick up your ears or better strain your eyes, as the following guide will protect you from unnecessary trouble and bitterness …
www.credit-land.com/articles/articles_p … 780_57.php

You’ll have gathered by now that I admire anyone who can take a common tune and make you pick up your ears and listen anew.
www.thesession.org/discussions/display.php/1345

With the sounding fullness of their effect on a bigger room, the instruments of this quartet did not only pick up your ears, but also your eyes.
guitarfoundation.de/english/contributions/andreasstevens.htm

You would just pick up your ears and listen for the sound of raconteurs Frazier and Hastings swapping stories and tall tales.
saturdaymorningrun.com/archives/saturday_morning__history.htm

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#2 2007-12-27 09:50:36

JonW719
Eggcornista
From: Colorado
Registered: 2007-09-05
Posts: 285

Re: 'pick up your ears' for 'prick up your ears'

Well, if we lend our ears, I suppose we can pick them up too. :-) I can picture someone using this word and thinking of cupping their ears or otherwise trying to amplify the sounds they were hearing.

Might people be trying to avoid saying “prick” because so often it is used vulgarly? Or, being far removed from the original image (of a horse, typically, I believe) of an animal raising its ears to hear anything dangerous, people can’t imagine that “prick” is right and substitute “pick.”

I wondered if maybe Shakespeare’s “by the pricking of our thumbs, something wicked this way comes” might have been given similar treatment, but I couldn’t locate it. (Or is it “my” thumbs?)

Because a similar word with a different imagery is used, I think it could qualify for eggcorndom.

Last edited by JonW719 (2007-12-28 11:03:40)


Feeling quite combobulated.

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#3 2007-12-27 16:49:44

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

Re: 'pick up your ears' for 'prick up your ears'

‘perk up your ears’ is also extremely common (10k ghits). I think it’s also probably an eggcorn of ‘prick up…’
but I’m not as sure, since the sound is a little more distant. Examples:

Science News for Kids: Feature: Hear, Hear Perk Up Your Ears: Discover Your Sense of Hearing ...
www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20060111/refs.asp

Perk up your ears, and you’ll get quickly up to date on all that is wrong with the world.
www.ohio.com/editorial/ofobike/12107976.html

...at only 29 dB, it runs so quietly that you’ll have to perk up your ears to hear it at all.
www.nec.co.uk/NEW_MultiSync_VT590.aspx

... but this little tidbit should certainly perk up your ears
www.searchmarketingstandard.com/?s=marketingvox – 34k – Cached


Just perk up your ears during the next subtitled anime!
www.genvid.com/lunarch/faqyou/tmwycaiaywyare.html So perk up your ears: Here’s his primer on the future applications of machine listening.
money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2006/12/01/8394987/index.htm

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#4 2008-01-01 14:55:13

fishbait1
Eggcornista
From: Cambridge MA
Registered: 2006-09-13
Posts: 54
Website

Re: 'pick up your ears' for 'prick up your ears'

Well, at the risk of straying into off-color territory, I think Jon is right about the substitution of “pick” for “prick.” In fact, my understanding is that the expression “prick up your ears” as a whole has a hidden vulgar connotation. It is the title of a book (by John Lahr) and 1987 movie about the gay English playwright Joe Orton, borrowed from an unproduced screenplay that Orton wrote for the Beatles.

The concealed vulgarity intended by Orton is that “ears” is an anagram of “arse” and/or the whole expression is homophonous with “prick up your rears.” It may be that “ears” and “arse” are homophonous in some English dialects.

Can any of the Brits who contribute here confirm whether the expression “prick up your ears” is understood to have a vulgar secondary meaning in the UK?

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#5 2008-01-02 08:57:49

Peter Forster
Eggcornista
From: UK
Registered: 2006-09-06
Posts: 1222

Re: 'pick up your ears' for 'prick up your ears'

Hello David. I can confirm that, for me at least, ‘prick up your ears’ is an expression I’d avoid because of the secondary connotations, and I imagine the same would apply to most folk, whether they were aware of Orton or not.
Although Britain is saturated with dialects I know of no dialect in which ‘arse’ sounds anything like ‘ears’. There may, however, be a Polari-like influence at work here and Orton would certainly have been familiar with Polari, an interesting ‘secret language’ incorporating cant, Romany, Italian and Yiddish words – see www.worldwidewords.org/articles/polari.htm

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#6 2008-01-02 18:18:18

fishbait1
Eggcornista
From: Cambridge MA
Registered: 2006-09-13
Posts: 54
Website

Re: 'pick up your ears' for 'prick up your ears'

Thanks, Peter. I was hoping you’d weigh in. It did seem unlikely that “arse” and “ears” could be confused in any dialect. I thought the “Polari” stuff was fascinating. I’ve seen the word “naff” in print, but none of the other examples given.

And a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year to you and all who frequent this Forum!

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#7 2008-01-03 03:21:35

patschwieterman
Administrator
From: California
Registered: 2005-10-25
Posts: 1680

Re: 'pick up your ears' for 'prick up your ears'

I second David’s wishes. And I also loved the Polari reference Peter posted—I’d never heard of it before. Wikipedia has an elaborate article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polari

I’d always wondered what the title of Morrissey’s Bona Drag album meant, and the Wikipedia article claims that it’s a phrase from Polari. Huh.

Last edited by patschwieterman (2008-01-03 03:23:03)

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