Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Sorry, I don’t have much documentation for this one. My notes say I heard it on some radio program between 10 and 11 ET on Oct. 29, 2009. It’s interesting, but maybe not an eggcorn—more of an amalgam of a couple of folk sayings. A person testifying about the ordeal she is enduring due to our current health care system said, “It’s a long road to toe.”
What’s interesting to me is that it seems to combine “a long row to hoe” with “toe the line”, and then to use “road”, in place of the “row” (or line). Maybe it has something to do with the rhyming of “toe”, “row”, “road”, and “hoe”?
Only one instance on Google.
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This saying has given rise to a large collection of manglings. I have the following all documented:
a hard hoe to row
a long hard row ahead of him
a tough ho(e)
a long road to go
a hard road to hoe
a tough road to hoe
a long road uphill to hoe
a long road to hold
a big road ahead
a hard road to go
a hard roll (rôle?) to hold
a long road to behold
a long hard road to head off
a long hard go on the road ahead
a tough axe to hoe
He has got the cart below the hoe.
Some possible eggcorns in there, doubtless. But most of them are probably more one-off errors rather than standard reshapings. Still, the “long road to toe†is a worthy addition to the list.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2010-02-04 14:31:35)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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Hilarity inducing.
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I don’t know if David’s list is from his personal collection—there are some I don’t recognize—but many variants have appeared in this forum over the years.
Since not many people hoe rows anymore, my favorite reshaping is “a tough road to hold” since we’re all a bit more familiar with the imagery of driving a car. I particularly like that two words were involved in the reshaping. For that reason alone, this may be one of my all-time favorites … right up there with crap chute which is also a two-word reshaping.
Last edited by jorkel (2010-02-04 15:58:01)
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David, are you sure your last one wasn’t “He has got the cart below the ho”? The imagery is much more fun that way!
Bruce
“I always wanted to be somebody. I should have been more specific.” – Lily Tomlin
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Joe: Yes, personal collection—I didn’t bother trying to find which of them had already been reported. (Too lazy.) The “tough role/roll to hold†is a double reshape as well, and if it is “role†it fits a number of contexts pretty well.
Bruce: Can’t be sure: it was spoken, not written, though the person that reported it to me did spell it “hoeâ€.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2010-02-04 18:43:36)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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