Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2025-05-10
Obviously neither, but does this qualify as an eggcorn?
“Harped on”, meaning to repeat; and “harked back to”, signifying to repeat, or go back to?
Today I caught myself dithering: did I mean “harped on” or “harked on”; or had I “harped back to” or “harked back to”?
The both share the same sense, and have a similar look/feel, but obviously one cannot hark on, nor can one harp back to, anything.
Is this then an example of an eggcorn?
Last edited by Azure-rumped Tanager (2010-01-21 08:49:13)
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The hark back >> harp back switch got an analysis from linguist Mark Liberman at Language Log way back in the early days of eggcornology. It’s here: http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/language … 01117.html
Liberman feels it’s an eggcorn, though I personally worry the semantic link is a bit vague.
I’m not sure we (or they) have ever had a discussion about the other side of the coin (harp>>hark).
Last edited by patschwieterman (2010-01-21 22:42:38)
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Wow, you guys do not muck around.
Thanks for the link, really informative and much appreciated.
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