Eggcorn Forum

We have from time to time (I’m too busy—read, “too lazy”—to look them up just now) discussed apparent or overt opposites that get substituted for each other. I just ran across this jewel from a student back in ‘00:

I guess it’s just one of those ponderables.

My judgment at the time was that she had said this on purpose, but I did not write down any evidence that she had done so. If it was inadvertent, there are various explanations that could be advanced for it, like elision of the first syllable, which is often so unstressed as to be almost inaudible, or some sort of blending with another word beginning with “p” (“possibly unanswerable/inconclusive/etc.”, etc.), or who knows what. But if it were inadvertent, especially if it were to become established for the author and/or with her friends, it would be more eggcornish.
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Because it really does make sense either way, and I almost like the un-negatived version a bit better. An “imponderable” is not something you can’t ponder, but something you can’t come to a conclusion about, ponder it as you will. A “ponderable” might well be (and probably was in the context), in addition, something well worth pondering even if you never do, or never even hope to, satisfactorily explain it.
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If by using the phrase you can (as my student did) make people ponder your words and realize they were worth thinking about, you are embodying a deeper meaning by means of the surface meaning (much like a metaphor does.) The self-referential nature of the thing is beautiful to me.

Last edited by DavidTuggy (2024-06-20 10:43:53)