Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Just ran across a nice example of “a cautious effort†where “a conscious effort†would have been expected. Checked the Internet and they’re all over the place. The main eggcorns page and search engines are apparently broken, so I couldn’t check to see if it has already been reported.
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It’s not obvious (to me) that it’s eggcornish, though there is a hint of deliberateness about cautious that might make it work.
Please always remember to make a cautious effort to respect our oceans and all our marine friends.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2018-01-29 12:37:57)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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Looks like an eggcorn to me. It would be hard to find in the wild because, for instance, “making a cautious decision” to do something might be just that. There are 5 hits for “should make a cautious effort to” that all look albuminous. Nice find.
“All authors should make a cautious effort to put man and woman in equal light”
tweet
Unless you want to live dangerously.
Last edited by David Bird (2018-01-30 19:32:27)
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There are return-trippers out there. They feel vaguely mondegrenous or flounderish or something.
The film plays to Johansson’s attractiveness in real life as well as her attractiveness in the film. Young men are willing to throw conscience to the wind for an opportunity with her. However, she doesn’t just choose any man, but rather ones who seemingly have no families.
film review
This should clearly be the acorn throw caution to the wind since there was no moral angle to the action, except maybe in the mind of the perp. Also in this review:
Transitioning from an automaton to a being of actual compassion begins to breakdown and ultimately destroy her world. She starts to try and understand and even conform to the norms of humans, but finds this to be an nearly improbable task.
Haha, mind-bender. Nearly improbable, though still probable.
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David Bird wrote:
It would be hard to find in the wild because, for instance, “making a cautious decision” to do something might be just that. There are 5 hits for “should make a cautious effort to” that all look albuminous. Nice find.
I turned up a lot of hits from “make/made a cautious effort†that looked pretty clear to me (i.e. cautious in the prototypical sense didn’t fit very well). Here are some:
All evening long he had made a cautious effort to avoid saying anything about his discovery. However, shortly before midnight, he turned the conversation to topics regarding different religious beliefs.
As our company got bigger, we made a cautious effort to get all of our employees to feel like they were learning as much as we felt we were.
Asked if the referees for this all-important match were ready for the task ahead, Mr Addo answered in the affirmative, stressing further that CAF has made a cautious effort to improve upon the standard of officiating
Please understand that you will need to make a cautious effort to stay with the group. It will not be possible for the Hike organizers to keep track of everyone especially when crossing intersections or in busy areas.
Please always remember to make a cautious effort to respect our oceans and all our marine friends.
We need to make a cautious effort to not only smell the roses, but take a mental break involving deep breathing and meditation.
signs of employee burnout can go undetected if you don’t make a cautious effort to stop and pay attention.
Brush your teeth an hour after your last meal to give your saliva the chance to produce natural bacteria-fighting minerals. Once you’ve brushed your teeth for the night, make a cautious effort to only drink water
The first step is to make up your mind to be a thrifty spender and make a cautious effort to always remind yourself of your goal.
I didn’t really have much of a theme for this set of recipes but I did make a cautious effort to try and keep the calories all below 500
Of course, the worse cautious fits, the less easily you can claim it’s an eggcorn as opposed to a more ordinary malapropism. I think (though I can’t prove) the connection may run through a notion of caution that is a close synonym to deliberate, done with/after deliberation , which fits considerably better. And of course the cautious decisions you mention, and other such expressions, provide another bridge.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2018-01-30 21:39:17)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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It’s probably no help at all, but it is possible that some associate caution with fear of getting caught.
Took another snow goose hunt this year,,,man they gotta to be the most caughtious birds I have ever seen,they know how to stay just out of gun range
The moral of this story is always checkup on these companies BEFORE parting with money. 5 seconds on Google and I have found that caughtion is needed with this firm.
I would strongly suggest all users take precaughtions against this user.
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Caughtious is wonderful! One of the cool things about English’s bizarre spelling is that in cases like this there can be little doubt that caught was indeed in the spellers’ minds.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2018-01-31 09:36:27)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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The “cautious” and “conscience” switches are approaching classical flounderhood. And are therefore moving away from full eggcorn status.
“Caughtious.” Classic. And surprisingly common.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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A captious effort? ( caught being equal to capt-ured )
It proved to me that the will to stay clean would take a captious effort for the rest of my life.
Nor is this questioning, which daily grows in volume, merely a captious effort to discredit the war leaders of the respective countries, as Is sometimes claimed. On the contrary, except for irresponsible* who are always found on the fringe of any society In time of crisis, it reflects genuine concern about the future
with AMD making the captious decision to undercut NVIDIA on pricing here,
Hiring a creator for your logo spirit project is a captious decision to make.
The second example may be legit: captious = faultfinding, nitpicking, etc.
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In the last two an extension of meaning of captious to “ticklish, dangerous, requiring finesse†may be at work. It is a word a lot of us don’t use often enough to be sure of.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2018-02-16 19:10:48)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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