Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
You are not logged in.
The Eggcorn Forum and the Eggcorn Database are currently in the process of being converted into static sites.
Once the conversion is complete, all existing posts are expected to still be accessible at their original URLs. However, no new posts will be possible.
Feel free to comment on the relevant forum threads.
Chris -- 2025-05-10
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
Offline
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.
Offline