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Chris -- 2018-04-11
#1 2024-07-03 16:49:31
- bluecrab
- Member
- Registered: 2010-09-24
- Posts: 21
Hand Jesters
Seen on the Nextdoor app in a thread with the lede: “Masked person at the front door last night (12:13AM)”:
”...look at his hand jesters…”
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#2 2024-07-03 19:18:13
- DavidTuggy
- Eggcornista
- From: Mexico
- Registered: 2007-10-11
- Posts: 2752
- Website
Re: Hand Jesters
Hi, bluecrab,
I like it!
.
Tell us a bit more about how you see this as
.
(1) making sense in the context you found it and other contexts where “gesture(s)” is used, and
(2) showing evidence of not being a simple spelling error, transcription error, malapropism, pun or other kind of error or joke. (The better #1 is, the less we should expect it to be an error.)
(3) repeated or occurring elsewhere, making it look like it might be standard for somebody (or not as the case might be).
.
For me the hardest one to discount is usually a malapropism. If somebody says (or writes) “jester” but thinks that is the way to pronounce (or spell) the word meaning “gesture”, it is a malapropism but not an eggcorn. For it to be an eggcorn he (or she) has to be tying the meaning “jester” in as well or instead.
.
For #3 I found this:
164 Hand Jesters Stock Photos & High-Res Pictures [Getty Images
https://www.gettyimages.com › photos › hand-jesters] Browse 164 hand jesters photos and images available, or start a new search
3x repeated in a context where it is unlikely to be a joke is pretty good.
.
The “hand” doesn’t seem to be a necessary part of it:
[Obituary] Oct 23, 2023 — I will always remember her nice jesters towards me a single young mother. May you be welcomed with open arms.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2024-07-04 09:32:03)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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#3 2024-07-03 23:00:56
- bluecrab
- Member
- Registered: 2010-09-24
- Posts: 21
Re: Hand Jesters
I thought perhaps a good way to elaborate might be to offer a still of the video that accompanied the original comment in the the thread. Picture worth a thousand words, after all. Hand jester indeed. (I’ll just hope for the best regarding eggcorn-ness.) I can say this, though: the commenter’s intention was not humor. Also, given the locale—North Suburban Boston—it could be local dialect. I’ve not heard this before, but I would not exclude the possibility.
Last edited by bluecrab (2024-07-04 01:03:49)
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