Eggcorn Forum

A “rued awakening” makes at least as much sense as a “rude awakening.” A web search for this idiomatic alteration shows that many dozens of writers have succumbed to the charms of “rued.”

A few of the web examples are no doubt deliberate puns. “Rued awakening” has even found its way onto the Pretty Good Jokes page of the Prairie Home Companion site. Most authors of these “rued” examples, though, seem to be unaware that they are perverting the historical idiom. Here are three of them:
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Web-published erotic novel: “It was a rued awakening to the fact that not everyone knew the score or had the same expectations”

Soccer forum: “They might give it the large at footy games as we’re to scared to kick off due to football ban and prison. [They] are in for a rued awakening in the morning.”

Comments on a gaming forum aritcle: “These gamers are in for a very rued awakening, if they think EA is the worst of the worst.”

I was hesitant at first to concede that “rued awakening” could be an eggcorn rather than a simple misspelling. “Rude” seems to me vigorous, obvious, while “rue” seems decadent and decaying. Replacing “rude” with “rue” would make water run uphill. Apparently, however, I am out of touch with trends in own language, as this Google Ngram shows. “Rude” is is on a multicentury fade, rescued only by its idiomatic embeddings, while “rue” is at least holdings its own, perhaps even extending its popularity.

Beadwof , by the way, applauds this eggcorn. “Rude,” perhaps because of its similarity to the thoroughly Teutonic “rood” and “rue,” tends to pass itself off as a word with deep Germanic roots. It is actually Anglo-Norman, an Italian sheep in the clothing of a Northern Wolf.

Last edited by kem (2014-06-15 10:09:44)