Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
One thing we really haven’t discussed directly is attribution for the discovery of the individual eggcorns. To start off the discussion, I’m just going to repost what I had already written on a different thread originating in 2006 and containing links to older outside links. Here’s what I wrote:
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By the way, Wade’s original post—from April 2006—really points out the problem of attribution (or who “first†located a particular eggcorn).
Wade lists dozens of examples of reshapings that may or may not be eggcorns: Many don’t qualify because they fit some other pattern and precede the date for which the bounds of eggcornicity were first drawn.
At the other extreme, I suppose we could have “finders†who might simply stumple upon a pre-collected list like Wade’s and provide the analysis of each entry—laying down the formal steps to ascertain eggcornicity—without giving the original locator credit (or even the first shot at it).
But that’s only half the problem. The other problem is that Wade’s list was posited in a single posting (with links elsewhere), and many—myself included—were completely unaware of it. I suspect many eggcorns suggested here in the Forum might previously have appeared on a list such as Wade’s without the new contributor being aware of those prior efforts.
Just a little food for thought for all of us who come to the Forum with an expectation that “my†eggcorns deserve to enter the Eggcorn Database.
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I’ve never thought attribution for discovery was important. We each have the first time we ran into an eggcorn, but we don’t get credit for discovering them.
(after all, we didn’t invent them!) (It reminds me of a crack in a Terry Pratchett novel about “discovering” or “exploring” the remote country of Uberwald—actually living there didn’t count.)
Attribution, to me, only matters when we come w/ what we hope is evidence of what’s going through an eggcorn user’s mind—we bring attribution for our SOURCE (and even that source is in all probability not the original—it’s just one piece of evidence).
There is no ownership of eggcorns. There IS an “ownership” of this particular database which lies w/ the folks who administrate it. And there’s an even less formal “sense of ownership” of the concept of an eggcorn, which we all exhibit when we say, “that’s not quite an eggcorn” or “that’s a great eggcorn.”
Last edited by TootsNYC (2008-07-29 09:27:53)
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Good answer TootsNYC.
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I agree. As you said over on the other thread, jorkel (can’t remember which thread—how do you guys keep track and reference them?), lots of people have been collecting this kind of thing for years, so finding an eggcorn is no guarantee you are the first to do so. Not everybody’s posted their list, so googling may not find them. And what Toots says is the heart of the matter: the real geniuses are those immoralized in the following paragraphs:
I would like to acknowlege my debt to various and sordid people. First and farmost to the real authors of this book, the vast contingency whose fertile unconsciences came up with all the weird and wonderful linguistic fabracations which are here celebated. I cannot, of course, emunerate them, for their names are legen. They range from the head haunches in the upper elechons of the hoi polloi —reknown lumanaries of such renoun as George Bush, Hill and Billary Clinton, Morocco Bomber, and others of that elk—, to such relative non-entities as like I.
.
Out standing among them is a select corpse of multiple repeat performers, true gold minds for data of this sort; yet even those who rarely goof ocassionally produce a flash of brilliance in the frying pan of life. In any case, I gracefully admit that I could never have begun to write this book withought them.
(All the weirdities are for real. Probably a few eggcorns in there: head haunches for one. You’ll enjoy my son’s pic for that one: http://www.davidtuggy.com/HeadHaunchesCr.jpg .)
If any of you are interested, I’d be glad to share my collections with you. (Over 15K entries, so there are a lot of them. Blends have been more the center of my interest, but there are plenty of eggcorns; it just takes time to go through and think which ones fit the template, which I’m not sure I understand yet! Yes, I’m one of those who has been at it for years.)
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2008-07-24 22:10:57)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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Hi David:
Just trickle your list in a little at a time. It’s easier for us to digest it that way. You might try some key words in the search engine to check on the status of things while you’re at it.
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OK. I don’t know the best way to do this, but:
I’ve extracted two lists from my two biggest databases (of [pretty-sure] blends and [probable] non-blends), according to my very “impressionalistic” ranking system. (I have [not-clearly-blended] misspellings and redundancies in separate databases.) Basically these were goofs I wanted to be sure to get into the book. I’ll include the first section or so of one in each of the following two posts here.
Some of these were from other collections (e.g. Rod Mael’s list, Steve White’s Helenisms) whose compilers gave permission for their use. I can send info on particular examples (e.g. general info about who said or wrote them, who reported them when, etc.) if such is wanted.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2008-08-02 13:41:21)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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A – a
a man after his own heart
He’s a man after his own heart
adverbs we could describe to you
Oh, God! There are so many wonderful adverbs that we could describe to you to let you know who you are!
airbag in my wife’s seat
There’s an airbag in my wife’s seat
all the old soldiers they could dig up
[for a WW I reunion] they got together all the old soldiers they could dig up
ancestor = descendant
Their ancestors still live there today.
She [speaker’s mother, in making bequests] had forgotten who the ancestors were on my side, namely my daughters.
“Where are we going?†Mary whispered.¶ “Silverydew village,†said the boy. “Your Dad’s already left. I’m Rowan.â€Â¶ Grinning, he pushed some brown curls from his face.¶ “You look familiar,†muttered Mary vaguely. ¶ “You two are both ancestors of the honourable Robin and Maria. My goodness, the likeness worries me,†boomed Uncle Benjy, “And we’re here!â€
the “sons of Korah†refers to his sons or to his ancestors…. Korah’s ancestors decided not to walk in the ways of their father
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2008-08-02 13:46:30)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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B – b
bark up left field
He’s barking up left field
beat stuff like a dead horse
[re a meeting] They beat stuff like a dead horse in there.
bemilder
The world is a bemildering place, but nothing is more perplexing than the contradictions within outselves
He was entranced, bewitched, bothered and bemildered, and that day began a lifetime love affair with halftime performances.
bite the bull by the horns
It’s time to bite the bull by the horns
I had to bite the bull by the horns
I need to just bite the bull by the horns
blabber, I mean flubber
It won’t hurt you to fall; you’ve got lots of blabber — I mean, flubber.
C – c
cast fingers
Who are you to cast fingers?
a self-righteous finger-casting man
Of course, the people are quick to cast fingers at everyone else–saying, “Yes, I wish all those other people would stop trying to make art!
Though it may seem right to cast fingers on Syria for this action, especially as the killed former president was an outspoken critic of Syrian influence
chew the flab
Let’s go chew the flab for a bit
chew your ear
Don’t run off after the meeting, I want to chew your ear for a while
come out smelling like a bandit
Boss, I’m telling ya, we’re really going to come out smelling like a bandit on this one.
couldn’t fail to disagree with you less
I couldn’t fail to disagree with you less
I could not fail to disagree with you less.
cross that problem when it hatches
Maybe we’ll just cross that problem when it hatches.
cross with a 10-foot bridge
I wouldn’t want to cross that one with a 10-foot bridge
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2008-08-11 07:51:48)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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This thread isn’t the right place for these lists, is it? Where should I move them to?
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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