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Chris -- 2018-04-11

#1 2008-05-03 22:02:57

Craig C Clarke
Eggcornista
Registered: 2005-11-18
Posts: 233
Website

"Amper's And" for ampersand

Just stumbled across this explanation of a possible eggcorn in wikipedia, though there’s no citation given for it:

“There was a common misconception that the word was derived from the name of a certain inventor named Linus Amper, hence the name “Amper’s and”.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampersand

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#2 2008-05-04 12:55:42

topkick
Member
Registered: 2008-05-02
Posts: 4

Re: "Amper's And" for ampersand

Sounds like a folk etymology.

Here’s one etymological site’s better explanation:

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ampersand

Although I suppose “Amper’s and” could be an eggcorn if someone actually wrote it like that.

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