Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
A night or two ago, I saw someone on TV use the term “planoply”. Just a mispronunciation? Probably, but I think it’s also very plausibly an eggcorn. The pronunciation similarity is obvious. Meaning-wise, a panoply is “a splendid display”, while “planoply” could imply “plan” in the sense of a floor plan or street plan, i.e., a picture laid out before the viewer. Googling “planoply” yielded about 30 or 40 unique hits of the type that could be an eggcorn. A few examples:
”...analysis will include the use of the full planoply of techniques aimed at delineating the spectrum…”
“Where does he fit into the planoply of polemics?”
“It was worth it, the Church contains a planoply of maritime artifacts…”
“This flower is similar to one of those written-over scrolls in that it is a planoply of colors in a series of overlaid patterns.”
I suppose that, short of testimony from someone who’s used the term, it’s unlikely we’ll ever know for sure whether any of these usages are eggcorns or just mispronunciations, but then, I reckon that’s true of many (most?) accepted eggcorns anyway.
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Last night a BBC reporter covering the protests in London used the expression “full panopoly of…” rhyming panopoly with monopoly of course. I suspect the ‘poly’ suffix may have been read as if it were a ‘poly’ prefix, i.e. as many rather than sell. The pan works as all when describing a large crowd, but I fancy an unconscious element of horns and hairy hooves at play too. Surprisingly common in a variety of contexts:
She also had a full panopoly of royal sceptres and staffs, a beaded flail (similar to that on the left), two bows, an alabaster mace with a …
I guess after a fruitless hour and a half of bushwhacking, then finding a blood trail, then having it washed away, is when the full panopoly of emotions set in.
The Mackay area has the full panopoly of primary and high schools, both state run and private.
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Panopoly works well for me.
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Re planoply, a stem plV(n) meaning something like “fullness†or “muchness†can be discerned in words like plenty/iful, plenitude, replenish, replete, complete, plethora, plural , and maybe the fruited plain and plantation, plaster, plasma and so on. (Granted, it’s not an obvious one.) If it is discerned by perps, planoply would be more than just an anticipatory syllable-onset error.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2019-10-08 22:30:32)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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I can see panopoly as being considered to be like a complete set (a monopoly, so to speak), which makes it pretty eggcornish (and you know I don’t cry “eggcorn” easily!).
“I always wanted to be somebody. I should have been more specific.” – Lily Tomlin
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