Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Eggcorn claims have been popping up on the net in the last month. Many of the candidates have already been discussed in our forum. Here are two suggestions, though, that I don’t think we’ve seen before:
(1) John Maidment says in his blog that he has observed an example of “tendril†substituted for “tendon.†I can see a few more examples of this error on the web. The semantic shift is an appropriate one, but the lack of a close sound parallel makes the switch a less attractive eggcorn.
(2) Adrian Bailey points out in a language forum that “’notest’ is turning up quite regularly in place of ‘noticed.’†In the header to the post he labels the switch an eggcorn. His observation about the frequency of the switch is accurate. But what exactly is being put in place of “noticed?” “Notest†is presumably the superlative of an adjective “note,†but “note†is not used as an adjective in modern English. The replacement seems like it might be a malapropism rather than an eggcorn. Any other thoughts?
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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I notesed that the second one is a thread from 2005. It predates the Eggcorn Forum if I’ve got my dates right. So we must be indulgent.
“Notesed” is most likely a spelling error, but has more eggcorn potential than notest, I warrant, but not much more. It’s almost always paired with other imaginative spellings.
It’s easy to see how this one developed. Have you ever heard “Brass in pocket” by the Pretenders? I’d swear Chrissy sings, “I’m goin’ make you, make you, make you notesse.”
Examples
UFO sightings
I live down manston road which is in penketh and I see these lights all the time. I have notesed that they are always around the same time which is about 10:30pm. [...] Also I have notesed every time I see these orange lights in the sky about 25minets later there is always a helicopter flying round. Can anyone explane what these lights are in the sky and why we keep seeing them.
Last edited by David Bird (2010-05-11 21:23:24)
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