Eggcorn Forum

Discussions about eggcorns and related topics

You are not logged in.

Announcement

Registrations are currently closed because of a technical problem. Please send email to if you wish to register.

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

#1 2008-03-19 10:31:54

nilep
Eggcornista
Registered: 2007-03-21
Posts: 291

Litmust test

From New York Times Blog:

Why must Obama pass a litmust test that hillary and mccain do not have to?

To anticipate nilep’s critique (oh wait, that’s me), it is entirely possible that this is a spelling error. (The standard spelling is litmus.) It’s a fairly likely typos, since the typer may anticipate the t of the following word and type it twice. It’s also common for s to be followed by t in words like first or most, so a typo is entirely possible.

It’s just possible, though, that speakers associate the metaphorical “litmus test,” which Wikipedia defines as, “a question asked of a potential candidate for high office, the answer to which would determine whether… to proceed with the appointment or nomination,” with something that must be answered in a particular way.

A Google search for “litmust test” returns 1,290 hits. Most of them appear to mean the metaphorical sense, defined above, rather than the chemical test for pH using litmus. There also appears to be a pop song (or album?) called Litmust Test.

by Doug Edelman
Immigration Bill Will Be Litmust Test
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/25230.html

Why is the FEDERALIST SOCIETY the new litmust test
http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thr … forum_id=2

Schundler v. Forrester: A Real Republican Litmust Test
A true Republican litmus test
http://www.njrtl-pac.org/pac/core/pac_d … icleID=886

Note that the last one contains both litmust and litmus, making a slip seem likely.

Offline

 

#2 2008-03-19 21:34:14

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

Re: Litmust test

Previously posted here on 1/09/06, but I agree that it might be a misspelling.

Offline

 

#3 2008-03-20 12:16:02

nilep
Eggcornista
Registered: 2007-03-21
Posts: 291

Re: Litmust test

Hm, it came up just fine today on the forum’s search function under “litmust”. Wonder why I didn’t find it yesterday.

I also noticed this from Craig C Clarke in the original thread:

Just came across this one somewhere – did a search and found no entries, started typing up a new entry and when I searched Google for examples… up comes this pre-existing thread.
Doggone busted search.
http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/forum/viewtopic.php?id=230

Sorry for the repeat thread.

Offline

 

Board footer

Powered by PunBB
PunBB is © 2002–2005 Rickard Andersson
Individual posters retain the copyright to their posts.

RSS feeds: active topicsall new posts