Eggcorn Forum

Yesterday a group of us climbed one of the peaks on southern Vancouver Island. On the way down one of my climbing companions, his mind muddled by the exertion, presented us with a credible eggcorn. He mentioned someone going “all naturel.” He meant to say “au naturel.” This eggcorn event was recorded at N 48ÌŠ 25.2’ W 123ÌŠ 39.6’, 21:23:00 GMT (If you want more accuracy than this, you should return immediately to your home planet.).

The English language borrowed the phrase “au naturel” from French about two centuries ago. French speakers used the phrase to refer to something life-sized or to food that was unspiced. Since joining the English language, the loan phrase has taken on several additional meanings, all of them referring to items that are in some way unadulterated or unadorned. More recently this phrase has become a popular way of saying that someone (1) is not wearing makeup or (2) is nude.

The English eggcorn comes in two distinct forms, “all naturel” and “all natural.” The first one, which mixes an English word with a French word, is easy to pick up on the web. Several examples are given below. “All natural” as a substitution for “au naturel” is more difficult to track down, however, since “all natural” can also refer to following green practices or to being organic. The non-eggcorn phrase overwhelms the eggcorn. But we can find some fairly persuasive examples of the substitution in contexts that refer to nudity or semi-nudity. Here’s one example:

TV news column: “Jenna Fischer goes all natural. Geeks rejoice! Jenna Fischer, who can be currently seen on the hit NBC sitcom ‘The Office’ as Pam, will be appearing in a semi-nude cover for the internet magazine ‘The Wired.’ ” (http://www.411mania.com/movies/columns/ … .27.07.htm)

[Whatever rapport the writer hoped to establish with geeks was lost when he/she referred to Wired magazine as The Wired.]

Examples of the eggcorn with the spelling “all naturel:”

Blog entry: “Collector t-shirts?! I’d rather go all naturel than wear this on my body. Bleah!!!” (http://www.magicboutique.sg/blog.php?m=20070902)

Web science fiction role playing: “What I am trying to ask is…would you like to be my maid of honor? I mean, it’s not going to be a traditional Betazoid wedding. I don’t think this crew is ready to go all naturel.” (http://ussessex.newhorizonspaces.com/in … ost&id=149)

Gamer post: “Boxers usually, naked seems to be what all the ‘cool kids’ do, but I also go all naturel if its pretty hot (rarely around these parts though” (http://tinyurl.com/8tl536)

Post in Goth forum: “You look stunning without makeup deary, you should go all naturel more often” (http://www.imgoth.com/?object=gallery&a … _id=220459)

Last edited by kem (2009-01-14 21:45:53)