Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
I was thrilled to discover today, once again, that I, eggcornista, have been harbouring an eggcornical belief regarding the true form of an idiomatic expression. I had always thought that soft-pedal, which means to play down the importance of something, as if pressing on the “soft pedal” of a piano to dampen the tone, was soft-peddle, as in downplaying the faults of something in order to sell it. This one is in the Database (link).
Here’s a sweet new variant: to soft-petal.
Sermon
To know the whole truth but to soft-petal it, or to leave sin unrebuked for the sake of popularity is to be false.
(http://truthchasers.com/Sermons/Expository/082591a.pdf)
Art review
The exclusion of grappling with the breath of the work’s subject matter has not been to soft-petal the symbolic potential of their subject, but rather to highlight the deep connection
(http://www.artstorage.org/candace.html)
Medical advice
by working with the counselor and possibly a doctor, she will be able to conquer the demons that are eating her up. (You may want to soft petal it a bit, and not use the word “demons.”)
(http://www.medhelp.org/user_posts/list/ … e_id=47535)
Last edited by David Bird (2009-10-30 14:23:24)
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