Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
You are not logged in.
Registrations are currently closed because of a technical problem. Please send email to
The forum administrator reserves the right to request users to plausibly demonstrate that they are real people with an interest in the topic of eggcorns. Otherwise they may be removed with no further justification. Likewise, accounts that have not been used for posting may be removed.
Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
Got a kick out of this one:
[She is:] The woman who makes him awaken with a large beam on his face every evening.
After a drive of a couple of kilometres though, he stopped the car and deposited us in front of a large concrete edifice with a large beam on his face.
A high childish voice exclaimed as she looked at the little boy coming through the door with a large beam on his face, she nodded slowly as she stared at the kid
Calypso splashed and leaped through the water with a large beam on her face.
Beam = ’wide smile’ of course exists (though it is missing from some fairly complete dictionary definitions), but neither it nor “(light) beam†fits this context. The first example sounds rather torturous.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
Offline
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the beam can be huge. Not sure why that’s not as clearly erroneous to me, but it’s probably related to the fact that a “huge smile†is perfectly normal, but a “large smile†is relatively odd. The huge beam is still pretty odd-sounding.
Like the previous Thursday when he had slipped out at lunchtime and returned with a huge beam on his face as he showed the picture editor the huge plastic …
Then with a huge beam on his face, he strides into the sunny courtyard and in his rich Scottish brogue exchanges hearty ‘Holas’ with them
Tobias knocked back his drink, then looked towards Megan behind the bar with a huge beam on his face. Hell, he was handsome, she thought, as her heart …
(Scottish ‘Holas’ are fun.)
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2020-02-05 11:49:53)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
Offline
Here’s a beam in your eye! First cast the beam out of thine own eye.
He felt curiously encouraged and heartened by the beam in her eye rather than by her actual words.
https://books.google.ca/books?id=9FYcc9 … 22&f=false
Again, the old world, pre-Apple Store suggestion by the shopkeeper: “Un gateau pour aujourd’hui, et un gateau pour demain” (one cake for today, and one cake for tomorrow), we agreed. And then the punchline, as the young woman switched to English with a beam in her eye: “And, if you eat both today, you can come back tomorrow”.
https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sust … n/1016401/
There is a beam in his eye. He reaches over to her before heading out of the restaurant to catch the plane. “I really enjoyed my time with you.
https://books.google.ca/books?id=wcf5AA … 22&f=false
Offline
Right. Not sure how I jumped over beams and gleams and such in the eye, but they definitely are a factor.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
Offline
This throws new light on the saying from the Sermon on the Mount in the KJV: “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”
Depression is often a prelude to criticism.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
Offline