Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
This one is already in the Eggcorn Database, so I’m posting it (under Eggcornology rather than the Contribute category) so people can more easily see it (and because I recently encountered an example of it). Here’s most of the Database entry, posted by one Rod Williams over 13 years ago (a long time in the context of eggcorn history):
Jewelers loop instead of jeweler’s loupe.
“Recently my husband bought a jewelers loop to look at pieces we sometimes come across at estate sales etc.â€
“I looked at it through a jewelers loop and discovered an A in the top left corner and a C in the bottom right with a Sword in a Stone between them.†(eBay auction description)
And here’s the example I recently found:
You’ll need a magnifying glass or jeweler’s loop to check the condition of the marble, so you can see how bad the inevitable chips, flakes, or scratches are on a game-played marble.
marbles article
It’s easy to see how a loupe (a small magnifying glass) could be visualized as loop-shaped. Hence, I’m calling this an eggcorn.
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The word “loupe” (in French, from where English borrowed it) can mean “loop.” The small magnifiers got their name, I think, from their resemblance to loops of metal. So if there is eggcorn substance in the substitution, it is probably just returning the word to its source (returning, that is, for English speakers-for French speakers the word would always have been linked to its source).
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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