Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
“Katt – sorry, I can’t help but smile at the image you presented with your words about the handle bar of the elliptical hitting your boob :lol: They make these machines supposedly for big women too, but they don’t allow for an apple bosom :D”
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/archive … 97499.html
I’m brand new here, but I can’t find mention of this potential eggcorn elsewhere on the site.
“Let’s not get bogged down in semantics.”—Homer Simpson to Gary Coleman
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Welcome to the Eggcorn Forum, billyphuz.
Apple bossom – particularly in the quotation you cite – is interesting. I think it is more likely a typo or a misspelling than an actual eggcorn, though. I can’t imagine what image the speaker has in mind that would make her understand “apple bossom” as “boob” or “large chest.”
I usually understand apple related body-part references to refer to color, as in “apple-cheeked toddler.” Apparently apple is also used to refer to the shape of certain body parts.
Find the apple of your cheek by smiling and looking into the mirror. The round part that pulls up is the apple of the cheek.
http://www.themakeuproom.com/blush.html
I don’t see references to unusual size, though.
Interestingly, a Google search for “apple bossom” does return 111 hits. Most of those seem to be misspellings of “apple blossom,” though.
Dugan / Diamond Carnival Apple Bossom Bowl
This is a Dugan / Diamond Glass Carnival Apple Blossom Bowl measuring 7” across in excellent condition.
http://www.bobvila.com/SmartBuys/Dugan_ … 06020.html
In years when apple bossom is abundantputs out abundant flowers, the damage done is limited and the weevil even acts as natural, and beneficial, “thinner”
http://www.inra.fr/hyppz/RAVAGEUR/6antpom.htm
Apple Bossom Super Spritz 8.5fl oz
http://shopnow.secureonlinecart.com/mye … affiliate=
But there is also this one.
when she removed her coat, there she stood in a tight fitting sweater that showed off her apple bossom,
http://www.girl-directory.com/erotic-st … cleID=6019
Still, my bet is on misspelling rather than reshaping.
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I was emboldened to register for the Forum and submit this because I heard the phrase “apple bosom” personally; a gentleman I’m acquainted with came into my office and was describing someone to me, and using his hands to indicate breasts said “she had, you know, an apple bosom.” After that, I did google the phrase to see if it was an isolated case or verifiable someplace in the interblag.
So, I have to disagree about the misspelling rather than reshaping theory. I, of course, did not ask if he was envisioning apples, or roundness, when describing this woman’s breasts to me. I do think that breasts in general are distinguishable by shape and size, at least in casual conversation, likened to grapefruits and so forth.
“Apple bosom” occurs occasionally in some descriptions in adult erotica. I chose not to post those particular examples.
(It may be worth noting, when compiling your search results, that the standard spelling is “bosom” and not” bossom,” TTBOMK.)
Last edited by billyphuz (2008-03-17 14:21:44)
“Let’s not get bogged down in semantics.”—Homer Simpson to Gary Coleman
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billyphuz wrote:
I was emboldened to register for the Forum and submit this because I heard the phrase “apple bosom” personally; a gentleman I’m acquainted with came into my office and was describing someone to me, and using his hands to indicate breasts said “she had, you know, an apple bosom.”
Well that certain wasn’t a misspelling.
(It may be worth noting, when compiling your search results, that the standard spelling is “bosom†and not†bossom,†TTBOMK.)
But that was. Oops.
A search for the correct spelling (that is, “apple bosom”) returns 30 gHits. Several of them link to an article on the iPhone entitled “Apple, AT&T: Bosom buddies or odd couple?” and include descriptors such as the following:
Article Taged as : apple, bosom, buddies, couple, where,
http://www.newsalbum.com/Read/24703-App … ple-where/
A couple might be misspellings, and several are odd one-offs.
i could lay under hollow trees
letting the apple bosom petals
close my eyes and send me to sleep
http://forums.writersbeat.com/showthread.php?t=563
I am now “Dutching Duchess” (I’ve never dutched in my life), I have the rights to the “apple bosom” jokes (How do ya like them apples?), and a piece of Emma’s peach paint spill.
http://colorfulyote.blogspot.com/2006/0 … -moon.html
But, at least eight (mostly in erotic contexts) appear to mean “ample.”
As much as I’d like to own an apple bottom, I feel comfortable knowing that Mother Nature has compensated for this injustice by giving me a full apple bosom instead.
http://bluenadia6.diaryland.com/androgyny.html
She came near to him grabbing the back of his head and burying it in her apple bosom.
http://www.incestsex-x.com/incest-01.html
So clearly there are reshapings and not just misspellings out there. I’m still not convinced that this is an eggcorn as opposed to, say, a malapropism, though. I could be wrong (as my last post proves); maybe shape, rather than size, contributes to the semantic reshaping.
By the way, it’s my opinion that describers of the language shouldn’t avoid naughty contexts. Just ask Jesse Sheidlower about the F-word.
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