Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Many jurisdictions use the term “putative father” for an alleged father whom the law has not formally recognized. In practice, the mother or the State typically makes an allegation of fatherhood as part of a claim for child support, and putative fathers sometimes do feel that they’re being punished. I think there’s a wonderful irony in this eggcorn when it’s used innocently in court; I also suspect that there are a few language-savvy defendants who use it sardonically.
Here are a few web examples:
Web query 1:
“I am now considered a punative father. If I terminate my parental rights after finding out that he is not my son am I still expected to pay child support since I signed the bith certificate (under false pretenses)?”
Web query 2:
“What does punative father means and could he be made to pay child support”
Web query 3:
“Our 30 days was up last week with the punitive father registry in Ohio.”
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Welcome to the forum, hcbowman. I especially like the way your examples show a spelling change in the direction of “putative” (i.e.,inserting the medial “a” of “putative” in “punitive”).
There are many, many examples of this eggcorn on the web, both under the spelling “punative” and “punitive.”
I see some examples of the roundtripper “putitive damages” (also, note, with the neat spelling change), but the action is mainly, as we would expect, in the “putative->punitive” direction.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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