Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2025-05-10
...INSTEAD OF “FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD”....
e.g. from www.insideoptions.com:
Whether you’ve seen Doctor J on Fox, CNBC, CNN, First Business, or listened to him on his CBS radio program, wouldn’t you like to have access to his insights ahead of the maddening crowd?
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For the longest time, I thought it was supposed to be “maddening.” “Madding” made no sense to me as it had no existence (in my young experience and mind) outside that expression. “Maddening” was something I knew. I know “madding crowd” comes from the Thomas Hardy novel title, which itself comes from a Thomas Gray poem, but I think this is a classic case of the brain turning an unfamiliar phrase or word into something already in our experience of vocabulary. Does that make it a classic eggcorn?
Feeling quite combobulated.
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