Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Heard, not read: “He needs to recluse himself from this decision.” Recusal strikes me as a fairly reclusive state, so I thought the logic inherent in this (mis)usage made it a worthy candidate for an eggcorn.
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Great eggcorn squash, creacher. There are hundreds of hits on the web.
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Yes, good one.
“Recluse” is a real verb-just not a very common one, so I’m not sure it’s a squash (that’s our word, creacher, for a one-word blend/portmanteau that has enough sound similarity to fit eggcorn definitions).
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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Good point, Kem. There’s also the possibility that they’ve simply verbed the noun recluse. Other nearby ports include reclude, as a blend of seclude and recuse, and the difficult-to-separate-from-a-typo recue. How about the multiple hits for judges excusing themselves from trials? That would be a flounder, would it not?
Aha. A wayward s can allow the judge to rescue himself.
From India The judge rescued himself from the bench until the trial was over
From India The Supreme Court had to delay hearing two fresh challenges to Musharraf’s candidacy for Saturday’s presidential election by national and provincial lawyers after one judge rescued himself
North Carolina journal Ken Crow, Craven County superior court judge, rescued himself from hearing the probation violation Monday and said a deal could be in the works to get Harvey treatment for alcohol abuse. Crow said he knows Harvey, her children and that a family member of his had worked with Harvey. “I don’t want the appearance of impropriety by handling the case,” Crow said.
Last edited by David Bird (2011-01-28 12:23:16)
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An interesting and occasionally entertaining discussion I found (http://www.englishforums.com/English/To … b/post.htm):
I recently wanted to make a verb related to the noun “recluse”, to mean what a recluse does when they withdraw and shut themselves away. The natural verb seemed to be “to reclude”. However, it wasn’t in my dictionary, and looking online only comes up with a definition from Webster’s, meaning “to open, to unclose”.
Has anyone else used, or heard, “to reclude” in the way I wanted to use it? Any comments on the validity of that usage?
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[reply:]I’ve never heard of “reclude” but “seclude” would seem an appropriate verb to use.
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[another:] Include, exclude, seclude, reclude…
What about plain old “clude”?
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[another:] What about “gress”, and “struct,” and “volve,” and “fer”? Do you want equal rights for all roots? I think there’s more of them than there are of us.
Anyhow, it is used with the meaning “withdrawâ€, or as a substitute for recuse :
The judge had to reclude himself because of conflict of interest. I explained my case to the referee.
[written in 1838] It belonged to the majesty and grandeur of the Deity, it was a part of Godlike state and greatness, to retire and become reserved, to reclude himself,
re- is sometimes a negative (undoing) prefix (e.g. repress , regress ), so reclude would indeed seem to be a natural for an antonym of include (especially given reclusive <—> inclusive )Anybody, who made those innane comments should reclude himself from hfboards permanently, just to save face.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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Reclude, recluse. My vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounce.
The notion of a judge “rescuing” himself from a case is eggsquisite.
That would be a flounder, would it not?
I may be a poor one to answer this question. I tend say controversial things about flounders. But my impression is that “excuse” and “recuse” are not flounders. For one thing the sound similarity is low. For another, the switch tends to happen in an idiomatic context (“recuse/excuse oneself from”). Flounders need to be able to substitute for each other in (almost) every context.
Last edited by kem (2011-01-28 13:52:08)
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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Hiding in plain sight is refuse for recuse.
International human rights
This court transferred the case to the regional Karlovy Vary court, whose judge refused himself for the reason of conflict of interest.
World Bank: Laws governing public water
the administrative judge refused himself the authority to exercise any control over the motives behind his decision.
News blog
The NPP MP recalled that it was due to the same comment that a judge refused himself from sitting on the murder trial of overlord of Dagbon, Ya -Na Yacubu Andani, claiming that he feared for his life.
Legal brief
there is no statutory basis for requiring a judge to refuse himself on grounds of mental disability.
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Wow! Recluse, reclude, refuse, rescues … I love them all! This is a super find!
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