Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
“Ups a daisy” 67,100 Google hits
“Oops a daisy” 73,300 Google hits
Ups-a-daisy is an expression used when lifting up a small child. Oops-a-daisy is an expression used to acknowledge a mistake. It seems pretty clear that one originated from the other—I think Ups-a-daisy is the original—but the reshaping is probably intentional. I wonder how oops-a-daisy came into existence … a mishap after an ups-a-daisy?
Last edited by jorkel (2010-04-10 09:45:09)
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I didn’t realize that “oops-a-daisy” and “ups-a-daisy” had different meanings. I’ve always used them interchangeably.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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It seems a pretty natural example of semantic creepage for “ups-a-daisyâ€: from situations where one is lifting a small child (and wishes to comment reassuringly to that child regarding what is happening) to situations where one is picking something up and there is a kind of precariousness to it, to situations where that precariousness is manifested in nearly or completely dropping the lifted item, to situations where something else untoward happens but the one responsible (or a bystander) wants to comment reassuringly on the situation.
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At that point the situation is ripe (/rife) for “oops†to be blended in, with eggcornish potential.
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A situation my wife Joy and I have laughed over many times occurred at a salad bar in a restaurant years ago. A tense-seeming woman was juggling her handbag and food as she tried to put her salad together, and managed to upset a large glass of coke (Coca-Cola, that is) all over her salad and tray. Joy, trying to make light of the situation, said “Oopsies†just as the woman came out with a loud “SH—!!â€. The woman then rounded on Joy, all the cords standing out on her neck, and hissed, “That … was NOT… Oopsies!!â€
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Joy has always been sorry she was just a bit too slow to respond, “Well, thank goodness it wasn’t the other, either. Just coke!!…just coke!!â€
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Anyhow, it is now a way in our family to express some serious frustration: “That … was NOT … Oopsies!â€
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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