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Chris -- 2018-04-11

#1 2010-12-01 00:33:16

nitpicker
Member
Registered: 2010-12-01
Posts: 1

paring knife <<>> pairing knife

The substitution of “pairing” for “paring” is so common that ads for paring knives sometimes use the word “pairing”. It is happening today Nov 30, 2010 on http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products … ing-knife/

or just google: http://www.google.com/search?q=%22pairing+knife%22

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#2 2010-12-01 08:07:31

DavidTuggy
Eggcornista
From: Mexico
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 2713
Website

Re: paring knife <<>> pairing knife

So give us a good rationale for the meaning: how does a paring knife function to pair anything?
.
And welcome to the forum. I expect we all resemble you (or at least your name) in some degree.


*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .

(Possible Corollary: it is, and we are .)

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#3 2010-12-01 08:18:16

rfwillis
Member
From: Australia
Registered: 2010-11-22
Posts: 19

Re: paring knife <<>> pairing knife

I think that perhaps Nitpicker, like me, did not at first realise that this sort of misuse belongs in the
“Slips, innovations and reshapings” forum.

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#4 2010-12-01 14:59:38

jorkel
Eggcornista
Registered: 2006-08-08
Posts: 1456

Re: paring knife <<>> pairing knife

Yeah, it takes a while to realize that an eggcorn should present a unique imagery which justifies the word choice.

By the way, I previously posted on pearing knife as a knife which is used to remove the rind from a pear…

http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/forum/view … hp?id=4879

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#5 2016-11-29 15:05:40

Dixon Wragg
Eggcornista
From: Cotati, California
Registered: 2008-07-04
Posts: 1375

Re: paring knife <<>> pairing knife

Here’s an example I stumbled upon while researching another eggcorn:

A two inch pairing knife is more than enough to cause a life threatening injury.
discussion

I think it could be an eggcorn in some cases, because cutting something in two can be seen as “pairing” it (i.e., making a thing into a pair of things).

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