Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2025-05-10
Just ran across this one. I’m sprized it hasn’t been reported, but I did not find it.
I hear tale that it is spring somewhere in the world. I think Narnia has come, always winter, never… Spring.
I hear tale that Hobonichi also begins in April, yearly. If this is true, when do I order?
I heard tale that Puddin’s breakin’ out the show band. Friday night in Georgetown! I done toad y’uns onced!
ahh yes.. the peon game.. we heard tale about that up north in the ussr mountains.
I heard tale the other day of a Headmaster’s son who, many years after leaving the sixth form, still […]
Of course one could cite the alternation as simply tale < tell, an etymologically related pair (if that bothers your definition of an eggcorn). But this context makes it hard to say that one collocation is odder or less understandable than the other.
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The Puddin’s show band example (which is not typical but seemed worth including) is probably purposeful, but surely not all the rest are. And there are many more.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2024-06-28 11:19:30)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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It certainly works well enough. I used to drink in a bar where the locals would ask, “What do you hear, what do you say?” and a reply beginning “I hear tell …” would fit perfectly. Perhaps the question was once as common as the reply and this dialect kept both – they also used the word blackguard which seems pretty much obsolete elsewhere.
A few variants:
In Finland I here tell of experimental forests where square trees are being developed, very secretive and all.
The water should be warming up nicely by then, if you guys get tired of snagging I here tale of there being a few catfish in that lake, too.
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