Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Pallor suggests at least some degree of sickness:
We still have the problem of a serious economy that is in a pallor state. We still have the problems of social services that have absolutely collapsed, public health …
He borrowed a pile of £50 notes that would stretch 6700 miles into space – FACT & yet our education system is as poor as it ever was, “Child Poverty” is higher than it was under Thatcher & the NHS, where the bulk of the money ended up, is in a pallor state!
It was slightly in a pallor state, in that it was going downhill, but it was still much loved and it was a common language.
A parlour variant seems likelier to be a typo, but its American counterpart less so:
I’d be a very rich man but finances and the country’s economy are in such a parlor state, projects are being delayed, cancelled and put back.
The communication lines between Western governments and Moscow are in a parlor state.
There are either large producers (e.g. Cameco) which are in a parlor state due to years of a bear market, have huge debt loads and/ or …
Parlour/parlor is rarely heard these days, though it remains in use as a type of guitar, in nursery rhymes where Queens eat bread and honey, and perhaps most commonly in funeral parlor, which may lend some of the above an eggcornish flavour.
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The perps here have, like me, probably never heard the word “parlous”, or the expression “parlous state”. Is it common in the UK?
“I always wanted to be somebody. I should have been more specific.” – Lily Tomlin
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No, much too affected a term for everyday speech, but in formal speech or written form it is not unusual. Now you mention it, though, you’d normally hear it, if at all, delivered in RP tones, that ‘British’ accent which perhaps only 2% of Brits possess. And to my ear at least parlous would then be indistinguishable from powerless. Could there be any examples of this I wonder?
It would be repetitive to say that our economy is in a powerless state. We are suffering from inflation, and about 1,250,000 people are …(Hansard!)
The publishing business is in a powerless state itself, its worse in many ways than the music industry.
The economy is in a powerless state. And for the first time also in those 20 years, the Movement for Democratic Change represents a serious …
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Powerless < parlous needs its own entry. Excellent eggcorn. The pallour/parlour mixup seems more merely malapropistic, but there might be something there. Searching for “funeral pallor†yields some obvious punniness (e.g. book titles) and other hits:
Cloaked in a drab, funeral pallor, there are few battle sequences and none of the glitzy costume changes of “Catching Fire,” although
[Listed property] Ideal for many uses: Offices, Medical, Worship, Funeral Pallor, Community Non Profit, School/Day Care Facility, Institutional, Investment Income …
[From the Daily Undertaker:] Makeup is one of the most misunderstood aspects of preparation, and heavy handed funeral directors and embalmers are largely to blame. In some communities, people have come to expect a ‘funeral pallor’ of caked foundation, waxy orange lips and greasepaint in the Broadway tradition. I think that the fear of bad makeup is often a factor in families choosing a service that does not include viewing.
Funeral service for Mrs. Mary Bain, nee Hicks, B.1 years old, who lived on Arlington avenue, northeast of the city, will be held at Reynolds funeral pallor,
wouldn’t you know it, her sister Caterina (Kate Linder), and her husband Lassiter (Bob Buckley) run a funeral pallor!
[for only ten dollars:] The Reverend soft enamel pin is about 1.75” tall, plated in black dye metal. Features a glow in the dark face so he’ll still be able to give you the creeps, even when the lights are off.¶
Available in four ghastly variants:
• Funeral Pallor (original)
• Cardinal Sin (red)
• Ethereal Evil (blue)
• Poisonous Padre (green)
¶
All four versions of The Reverend glow in the dark.
Some stuff worth teasing out in there, maybe.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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