Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
I’m surprised I don’t find this one in your database! (Maybe I overlooked it?) It shows up in student writing soooo often! Here’s a couple of linksand cites for this common switcheroo:
“As long as communities remain uninformed and therefore, fail to demand change within the culture surrounding the care of our most frail and aging, the rein of terror and abuse will continue.” found at the lawblog at:
http://www.horwitzlaw.com/Our-Library/Community_22.htm
And as recently as June 11, a political message group post includes the phrase “Bush’s rein of terror” in the title of a post at
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Here’s the example I just stumbled upon while researching a different substitution:
However, he began he rein of terror once again.
ferret discussion
Reign for rein is on the official eggcorn list in our Database, but not the other way around. But clearly this one goes both ways. To reign could be seen as taking the reins. The connection seems so clear that I looked up the etymology of both words, expecting that they sprang from the same root, but they didn’t.
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