Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
You are not logged in.
Registrations are currently closed because of a technical problem. Please send email to
The forum administrator reserves the right to request users to plausibly demonstrate that they are real people with an interest in the topic of eggcorns. Otherwise they may be removed with no further justification. Likewise, accounts that have not been used for posting may be removed.
Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
I found this in a student’s answer to a study question: “5. The animosity all balls down to out of the two groups of Jews, one being the returning exiles; which group has true power over the new rebuilt land of Israel.”
I thought it was new, but there are 141,000 instances in Google. I suspect it comes from a certain kind of southern accent that boils down diphthongs into single vowels, so that, e.g., “boiled peanuts” become “balled” or “bowled” peanuts. The image would be something squeezed into a ball and thus made smaller, rather than the original sense of some liquid being cooked down and condensed.
Offline
Well, if you ride that Google train out to the end of the line, on page 18, there’re no more’n 180 hits, which still counts as one of the most common eggcorns we’ve had for a long spell. I liked the bowled peanuts, too.
Here’s a much rarer version. After all is said and done, after the tears and recrimination, it all bawls down to this. Or maybe it’s your mother getting to the heart of things, at the top of her lungs, from upstairs.
Abuse forum
It all bawls down to you trying to get back to the happy times.
Exegesis
When my Grandchildren read it I will know what it all bawls down to and that is translation from one language to another.
writing advice
You are your own critic. It all bawls down to your final choice. Generally, you write about what interests and pleases you, in your own style.
Offline