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Chris -- 2018-04-11

#1 2006-08-09 10:06:48

jenallen74
Member
Registered: 2006-08-09
Posts: 1

"to the manor born"

I see people saying “to the manor born” all the time when people mean “to the manner born” (which originally comes from Hamlet).

Then I Googled it and learned that a popular British TV series is called “To the Manor Born.” The show’s name was intended to poke fun at this common eggcorn, but ironically it has probably made things worse for people who were already spelling it the wrong way. Now those people will see the phrase spelled “their way” in the press and not realize that it was a deliberate misspelling to be clever—and “to the manner born” will be lost forever!

http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.p … e=19990721

Jen

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#2 2006-08-09 11:54:17

patschwieterman
Administrator
From: California
Registered: 2005-10-25
Posts: 1680

Re: "to the manor born"

The Database has a fairly lengthy article on this idiom: http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/182/manor/

The Columbia Guide to Standard American English and Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage consider both spellings standard.

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