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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Today we saw pond off/pawned off . This phonetic switch evokes a related reshaping with eggcornish overtones, born of a confusion/blend in the use of “fond over” for fawn over/fawned over. Fawn comes from an O.E. verb meaning “rejoice, be glad, wag your tail”. It came to imply slavish attention by the year 1300. Fond was present at the same time and implied “foolish”; it later evolved into a verb for “dote upon, feel strong affection for”, as Shakespeare used it in Twelfth Night:
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Act II, sc. ii, line 36:
My master loves her deeply,
And I (poore monster) fond asmuch on him
(http://books.google.ca/books?id=DNKKsve … #PPA105,M1)
Fond is no longer used as a verb. As with pond/pawned we might follow the development of the fawn»fond switch, starting with the past tense substitution for fawned:
Online fiction:
all the girls were talking about the transfer student. I didn’t know why but I didn’t like how they fond over him.
(http://aquarainxd.livejournal.com/)
hotel review:
manager short with us but not with the packs of seniors whom he fond over.
(http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:tG8 … =firefox-a)
Then, use of fond in its own right, in place of fawn:
Fanfic:
it was a good normal party. Haru was fonding over Tsuna, Tsuna was fonding over Kyoko, and Kyoko was oblivious to Tsuna
(http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4925622/1/D … he_Extreme)
Financial advice forum:
I remember when the Germans were fonding over Adolf Hitler
(http://tycoonreport.tycoonresearch.com/ … should-you)
Role playing:
I just have to appear helpless for the men in my kingdom hahaha and I do so love how they fond over me
(http://board.jokeroo.com/355214-post3198.html)
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A propos of the -le/-er discussion:
To tell you the truth I do fumble around a lot when I am trying to tell someone how fondle I am of them.
(Reported by a correspondent)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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Well you’re right, there are lots of “fondle over”s out there. I won’t even look for going all “fondue” over.
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DT’s comment sent me off looking for examples of “fondling around in the dark.†As you’d expect, there are a few examples where what’s being described is literal fondling. But there are also a few where “fondling†is substituting for “fumblingâ€:
Bam moved quickly, fondling around in the dark for Ville’s inhaler, and still trying to watch Ville to make sure he was alright.
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showth … 62&page=12
Any thoughts or suggestions ar e allways welcome, seeing as this will be my first build, and i’m basically fondling around in the dark.
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-tech/11 … metal.html
15min stuff first, if anyone has any suggestions regarding my approach or whatever thatd be awesome, im kinda fondling around in the dark trying to speed up at the moment. Dont know whats right or wrong.
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showth … 62&page=12
Maybe the similarity between in sound between “fumble†and “fondle†is all that’s driving this, but it also occurred to me that another near-synonym of “to fumble around†– “to grope around†– is based on “to grope,†which of course is a near-synonym of “to fondle†in certain situations. I think many of us keep the erotic and non-erotic uses of this cluster of words pretty compartmentalized, but perhaps there’s a bit of bleed-through for some speakers. And plenty of fondling involves some fumbling, or so I’ve read.
On a slightly different topic, I try not to get too pedantic about comments about Old English, but as far as I can tell the verbs for rejoicing and tail-wagging are two different, if related, words.
[Edit: I just found a bug I’ve never seen before. I had to post two copies of my third citation above before it would show at all—our software kept deleting it once I hit “Submit.” Huh. Maybe Kem’s right—maybe my computer is possessed.]
Last edited by patschwieterman (2009-06-11 01:39:45)
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While there are some articles punning about a certain Debussy composition choreographed by Nijinsky (“Ballet’s season finale is one to ‘Faun’ over”), there are instances of people using “faun over” in an eggcornish way. Perhaps the uninhibited mythical creature is an example of a giver of excessive attention.
Blog entry: “Out to eat at Sunshine Cafe, where she was fauned over by the owner. ”
Message board discussion: “Boyfriend seems to have a lot of girl friends (platonic, he says) that faun over him. ”
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I had always assumed that “fawn” (=baby deer) and “faun” (=demigod, sometimes spelled “fawn”) were variants of the same word. Wrong again. Shared DNA (if deer and goats do share it) does not mean shared etymologies.
I also think that I quietly import “fawn” (=baby deer) into “fawned over.” The source of “fawn over” seems to be the old “fain” (I’m fain to admit).
Speaking of the archaic “fain to admit” {=either disposed to admit or reluctant to admit)—lots of “feign to admit” examples on the web.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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I second your tacit importation of baby deer into “fawned over.”
When I was a kid, the place I heard the word “fain” was a recording of Pete Seeger singing the Child Ballad Lord Randolph: “Mother, make my bed soon, for I’m sick to my heart, and I fain would lie down.” Though some people hear it as feign.
There is speculation that “fain to” had an influence on the phrase “fixing to” (sometimes rendered “finna.”)
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