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
My brain rather spectacularly mis-took a headline I read today.
REP. DAN CRENSHAW: China’s coronavirus lies prey on US divisions — how to fight their propaganda
I immediately got the picture of the coronavirus lying in wait to prey on US military units. I immediately categorized “lie prey on†as a potentially new and distinctly odd phrasal verb. It took probably a dozen seconds or more for me to parse it as I think it was intended: their lies about the coronavirus are taking advantage of/feeding on/exacerbating the political (or other) divisions within US society.
.
It is likely relevant that this was the last of four bunched headlines indicating that Crenshaw had been (as is his wont, to some degree) expressing rather bellicose opinions, some on military matters, in the same interview:
Crenshaw rips Clinton for latest shot at Trump over virus response
Crenshaw: Ousted USS Theodore Roosevelt captain ‘should know better’
REP. DAN CRENSHAW: Coronavirus – We can only fight this enemy together. That’s why duty is crucial
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
Offline
Is is almost impossible for writers to catch their own garden path sentences.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
Offline