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Chris -- 2025-05-10

#1 2016-08-24 09:08:04

MaggieL
Member
Registered: 2016-08-24
Posts: 2

"repurchased" for "repurposed"

“The original plan called for 15 boats, one named for each of the original thirteen colonies and one named Independence and one named Liberty. Only eight were brought into the fleet. Two left with their owners in the early 1990’s and now Independence has been repurchased to satisfy the increasing membership. None of the original charter members are still active with the club.”

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#2 2016-08-25 05:00:36

Dixon Wragg
Eggcornista
From: Cotati, California
Registered: 2008-07-04
Posts: 1375

Re: "repurchased" for "repurposed"

MaggieL wrote:

“The original plan called for 15 boats, one named for each of the original thirteen colonies and one named Independence and one named Liberty. Only eight were brought into the fleet. Two left with their owners in the early 1990’s and now Independence has been repurchased to satisfy the increasing membership. None of the original charter members are still active with the club.”

How do you know the writer didn’t actually mean “repurchased” in this context? Just looking at the part you quote, I can’t tell which was meant. Including a link to the quote’s source might help clarify.

And, welcome to the Eggcorn Forum, MaggieL!

Last edited by Dixon Wragg (2016-08-25 13:58:42)

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#3 2016-08-25 08:01:27

kem
Eggcornista
From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2007-08-28
Posts: 2887

Re: "repurchased" for "repurposed"

“Repurchased<< repurposed” is a tough substitution to find in Big Words databases and on the web. The switch, if it occurs, is rare, and there is no definitive idiomatic context that fits one word and not the other.

I think I found one example:

Food discussion on a forum” “Ham is cheap and can be repurchased into other meals.”


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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