Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
We have a fine bunch of references to the word ‘jewel’ already, but none of them seem quite the right spot to tag this onto, so I’ve given it a separate entry.
Jowl is, I think, a word rarely seen without cheek, but I could easily be mistaken. As a child and youth, if reference was needed to the jowls, chollers was the word of choice. (Move only 50 miles away and no one knows what you’re talking about.) And jowl was a verb used by… ah, let’s try a song instead: https://youtu.be/T7BxLCwJhfY.
‘Cheek by jowl’ means together, in unison, side-by-side. The ‘jewel’ variant does have possibilities. Holding cherished, cute or cuddly things next to the cheek seems a well-established, though dare I say girly, kind of image. Personally I’d sooner not have a jewel next to my cheek. I could lose it in my beard or it might cut me or, likelier, I’d inhale the bloody thing and have to undergo subsequent searches.
We are living cheek by jewel with each other. There is no ‘there’ to go to. There are too many of us.
I remember well how there were places, cheek by jewel, where you could stop and buy a cup of tea and a biscuit and rest your feet while …
... jostle with crumbling ancient mementos to a bygone imperial age, sitting cheek by jewel with the boisterous modern chaos of the city.
Tables set cheek by jewel, the background noise level means even talking to those on your ...
... the elderly lived cheek by jewel with the new influx of Turkish guest workers” and young squatters.
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