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#1 2008-04-09 08:54:29

gegtik
Member
Registered: 2008-04-09
Posts: 2

'raise' for 'raze'

http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?gwp=13&s=raise
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?gwp=13&s=raze

seen in:
“Canada should send a division down to Detroit, raise it to the ground, and sow salt to ensure nothing grows there again, Roman style.”
—>

“you’ve never been to downtown detroit i take it. it’s already been raised”

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#2 2008-04-09 10:48:10

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

Re: 'raise' for 'raze'

Welcome to the Eggcorn website gegtik.
We’ve had indirect mentions of raze/raise in these posts:

Paul Brians’ Common Errors in English Usage by jorkel Eggcornology 8 2007-09-21 11:17:44 by TootsNYC

Own-Wordst-Enemies by foilsafe Slips, innovations and reshapings 9 2006-09-25 11:48:33 by jorkel .
(You can relocate them by clicking on “Search” in the above menu and entering “raze” in the search window).

I suspect that we’ve never really followed up on the raze/raise similarity because no clear imagery has emerged. If you’d like to take a shot at articulating the imagery which people attach to “raising a building” that would be a good place to start. The imagery needs to involve a meaning of “raise” which is actually intended (rather than the mistaken usage to mean “raze”). Feel free to take a shot at it; we may have overlooked something.

Last edited by jorkel (2008-04-09 10:48:30)

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#3 2008-04-13 11:38:11

shadowdrak
Member
Registered: 2008-03-08
Posts: 13

Re: 'raise' for 'raze'

As a kid, when I heard the word “raze”, I had just assumed it was an alternate meaning of “raise” that I was unfamiliar with. Given the context in which raze was used though, it was always clear what it meant.

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#4 2008-04-14 11:29:02

gegtik
Member
Registered: 2008-04-09
Posts: 2

Re: 'raise' for 'raze'

@shadowdrak – isn’t that exactly what makes it an eggcorn? :P

@jorkel:
as linked, raise and raze have different definitions… I’m not sure what you’re asking for in terms of additional imagery—perhaps a use of raise in its proper context?

To reference answers.com again, for “raising a building” vs “razing a building”:

“To erect or build: raise a new building.”
vs.
“To level to the ground; demolish. See synonyms at ruin.”

I think this would be a striking example of how at odds these words are and why spelling is important in this case.

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#5 2008-04-14 15:56:19

TootsNYC
Eggcornista
Registered: 2007-06-19
Posts: 263

Re: 'raise' for 'raze'

Then again, there are those words that mean the opposite:

To quote John McIntyre:
To sanction something means either to approve of it or forbid it.
Oversight is either supervision or negligence.

If you trim the Christmas tree, you add things to it; if you trim the hedge, you cut things off.
Anxious, in casual speech, can mean either anxiety about something or eagerness for it.

Maybe people just think that “raise” is one of those words.

Of course, that doesn’t make it an eggcorn.

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#6 2008-04-14 20:55:57

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

Re: 'raise' for 'raze'

True. Eggcorns are comprised of words—or word fragments—that the utter knows ... not words that the utterer thinks the dictionary contains. (Otherwise malapropisms would be eggcorns).

Let’s look at a dictionary definition of “raise” and see how it might apply to a razed building.

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