Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Pages: 1
“Pawn off” for “palm off” has been mentioned on this site more than once, but here’s a substitution of “pawn” for “palm” in the sense of hiding an object in the palm of one’s hand:
“The prisoner had a handful of these vials in his possession when he was
arrested. It had been all to easy to pawn one as he checked in the
thief’s items.” (from a story on the Internet).
I don’t think it qualifies as an eggcorn, because I don’t see how the meaning could fit. I guess it’s just a substitution based on mishearing the word.
Dixon
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Maybe he did pawn it, in the sense of taking it to a pawn shop (depending on what the mysterious vials were)? Or perhaps, more loosely, in the sense of selling it to get cash from it?
Feeling quite combobulated.
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JonW719 wrote:
Maybe he did pawn it, in the sense of taking it to a pawn shop (depending on what the mysterious vials were)? Or perhaps, more loosely, in the sense of selling it to get cash from it?
The story makes it pretty clear that he didn’t. He threw it into the trash and that’s that. Anyway, the quote said ”...easy to pawn one as he checked the thief’s items”, and I think it’s safe to assume that doesn’t mean he sold it while still checking the thief’s items in the police station. So I don’t think we can make a case for eggcornicity on the basis of that presumed meaning.
Dixon
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Pages: 1