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Chris -- 2018-04-11
This sentence from a story on the Internet gives us “chunk” for the verb “chuck”:
“The sheriff looked at the vial and chunked it in his trash.”
We could write it off as just a substitution based on mishearing the word “chuck”, but “chunk” in this context may have enough of a meaning-connection to make this a real eggcorn, because “chunk” could be thought of as an onomatopoeic representation of the sound made when something is chucked somewhere, as into a trashcan, for instance.
I’m also reminded of the “Punkin Chunkin’” contest, wherein people compete to see how far they can shoot a pumpkin with a homemade cannon.
Dixon
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This is fairly common, and certainly standard for some people, though many of them can also use “chuckâ€. In other words, it’s not such a clean substitution as other eggcorns are.
In this context (chucking into the trash) especially, but in most other contexts as well, the notion of “junking†something is probably active. I sense a blend.
Besides, not instead of, the onomatopoeic connection you mention. (chunk thunk crunk …)
I found several like these (golfers seem to like the word):
If I took my iPhone running with me and it started ringing I would probably chunk it into the lake.
When I went up to do it, I hit a 3-iron to begin with and chunked it into the water. There had to be 10000 people on this one hole
How many times do you chunk it into the trap? Or you try to take the trap out of play and blast the ball over the green and into the next county?
If there’s water at the destination, likely “dunk†is active along with “chuck†and possibly “chip (shot)â€.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2008-10-23 09:49:49)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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I haven’t thought about this in decades. Where I grew up in Northern California, “chunkin’ rocks” was pretty standard kid-speak for throwing rocks in a lake. Weirdly, I hardly ever notice adults using it. I don’t know whether it’s fading, or whether it’s always been something more likely to be said by kids.
In any case, I suspect it’s now dialectal in some way, though that doesn’t rule out eggcornish origins. I’ll also try to remember to check the OED when I’m someplace with access.
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This entry reminds me of the earlier discovery of ‘chunk change’ used as a substitute for ‘chump change.’ I can’t find the original entry but it’s out there somewhere.
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I don’t recall ever hearing “chump changeâ€. What does it mean?
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2008-10-23 13:35:00)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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patschwieterman wrote:
...”chunkin’ rocks” was pretty standard kid-speak for throwing rocks in a lake.
Hmmmm…another example involving throwing things into the water, like DavidTuggy’s golf-related examples. This may strengthen my assumption of onomatopoeic meaning, as the sound of solid objects hitting the water tends to engender ”-unk” terms such as “plunk”, and there may be a relationship to “sunk” and “dunk”.
Dixunk
P.S. As we can get away with being really picky on this site, I can’t resist teasing you about this one, Pat: I assume you mean throwing rocks INTO a lake, as “throwing rocks in a lake” is rather difficult; the water slows down your arm movement so the rocks don’t go very far. And, there’s no satisfying “chunk” sound if the rocks are already in the lake when you throw them.
Sorry!
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DavidTuggy wrote:
I don’t recall ever hearing “chump changeâ€. What does it mean?
It refers to a very small amount of money, as in “A million bucks is mere chump change to these Wall Street creeps.”
Dixon
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OK. Some kind of a bell ringing way in the back of my mind.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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Dixon wrote
Pat: I assume you mean throwing rocks INTO a lake, as “throwing rocks in a lake†is rather difficult; the water slows down your arm movement so the rocks don’t go very far.
You seem to think I intended a bizarre image of us kids standing on the shore and then throwing rocks into the water. But of course that’s not how it’s done—you get waist-deep in (or is that “into”?) the water and then throw your rocks. Typically, we’d line up on the shore the punctiliousest pedants we could find and then use them for target practice. (I guess the Language Loggers would call this “reverse mock wordrage.” Or sumpn.)
Ken wrote
This entry reminds me of the earlier discovery of ‘chunk change’ used as a substitute for ‘chump change.’ I can’t find the original entry but it’s out there somewhere.
There are also 4000+ raw hits for “chimp change” out there. Makes sense—we all know they work for peanuts.
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patschwieterman wrote:
...we’d line up on the shore the punctiliousest pedants we could find and then use them for target practice. (I guess the Language Loggers would call this “reverse mock wordrage”...)
Haw haw haw! Touche! And “punctiliousest” is priceless! But it could be argued that anyone who uses the term “pedant” probably is one.
I’ve never really committed the sin of “word rage”. Misusages are just not important enough to get worked up about. Sometimes they can be annoying, but often they’re good for a little chuckle. I consider such accidental humor manna from Heaven. And besides, today’s misusage can be tomorrow’s “accepted” (by whom?) usage. Likewise with regional or subcultural usage differences.
Anyway, I trust you took my little ribbing with the intended chuckle.
Punk-tilious Pissant Dixon
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Anyway, I trust you took my little ribbing with the intended chuckle.
Yes, and I harbor a reciprocal trust.
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Dixon Wragg wrote:
Hmmmm…another example involving throwing things into the water, […] This may strengthen my assumption of onomatopoeic meaning, as the sound of solid objects hitting the water tends to engender ”-unk” terms such as “plunk”, and there may be a relationship to “sunk” and “dunk”.
My brother and sister-in-law, who used to occasionally skinny-dip in their outdoor jacuzzi, confess that nowadays they chunky-dunk instead.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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Both the current president Bush and the current governor of North Carolina are reported using “chunk” in the sense ‘chuck’ recently. Although both are lame ducks, this is still pretty high-class usage, despite the fact that Mr. Bush has a reputation for phonological and morphemic confusion. So, maybe the dictionaries should be revised to add the seemingly new meaning. Note that NOAD has had an intransitive verbal definition for “chunk” for years that reads, “move with or make a muffled, metallic
sound: the door chunked behind them.” So one who speaks of chunking a cell phone into a trash can is just shifting the intransitive to a transitive use.
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RonButters wrote:
So one who speaks of chunking a cell phone into a trash can is just shifting the intransitive to a transitive use.
Well, if by it they mean causing it to
move with or make a muffled, metallic sound
Could you say “they chunked the door (to?) behind them†? Would you say “the cell phone chunked into the trash can†?
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2009-01-14 17:57:45)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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Another example (from the “pantic†thread) that may be relevant:
The scout screamed, skunk panticked and sprayed getting the sleeping bag but missing the scout. The scout had managed to dunk back under the covers before …
Phonologically of course dunk:duck :: chunk:chuck. There is also involved somehow the notion of disappearance by complete submersion.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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