Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
from the Inside Higher Education, the Feb. 15 on-line article: (caps mine)
Katz insists that he is not saying colleges do not need to be accountable — he just thinks they already are, by students and their families who are continuing to pour into the institutions. “There will always be legislators and legislatures that would like more BANK FOR THE BUCK, bigger results for less money,†he says. “But I think the public is quite satisfied with what higher education is doing on the whole. This is a market system, and the customers are buying. We have by a considerable measure the finest system of higher education in the world. And if that’s the case, this is an ‘ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ situation.â€
found at: http://www.insidehighered.com/layout/se … 15/testing
a google search turns up several hundred examples, not all of them intentional puns related to the finance industry.
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I believe I heard this one in conversation yesterday (or I may have misheard someone using the “correct” form of the expression). Anyway, I also searched for it on google and also found a bunch of purposeful puns, but I believe there are a few true eggcorns in there as well. It seems a pretty logical eggcorn to me, since bank is a typical slangy synonym for money.
Examples:
“If you really want to get the most bank for your buck, we’re really looking at high quality pre-kindergarten programs,” Barth said.
When it comes to your eyes, a 99 cent pair of sunglasses often won’t cut it. There are certain features you should look for when investing in a pair of sunglasses to make sure you get the most bank for your buck while protecting your eyes the best way possible.
These basses reqire a 9 volt battery to work, but again will give you a bigger bank for your buck with much more control over your sound in every situation.
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Another example of a worthy eggcorn that slipped by without comment. Thanks for bringing it back up, ilpirata, and thanks for spotting it, Old Word Wolf.
According to William Safire, “bigger bang for a buck” was coined by John Foster Dulles in 1954, speaking of military munitions. It’s migration from things that go ‘bang’ to purchases such as education, sunglasses, and basses (bass guitars?) makes “bank for the buck” utterly sensible.
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bank is a typical slangy synonym for money.
makes “bank for the buck†utterly sensible.
“Utterly”? Well … “More money for your money” still sounds kind of odd to me. It’s no improvement on the original imagery. But still, I’d rate it a decent eggcorn.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2008-09-30 08:16:11)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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DavidTuggy wrote:
Well … “More money for your money” still sounds kind of odd to me.
Sure, but then “bet rubles to rupees”, “pound wise and penny foolish”, “dollars and cents”, and probably some others I’m not thinking of right now are all metonyms for money.
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Sure, but “more dollars for your cents”? Except perhaps the rubles/rupees one (which I’m not familiar with—is a difference in the worth per unit not in view there too?) these all contrast a high-value denomination of money with a low-value one. I suppose banks are worth more than bucks, but the formula “more X for the $Y” to me means “a better deal”. Are you buying more money with your money, more pounds to the penny, or what? Again, it’s more a puzzling than an impossible image to me.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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I don’t actually use the term (so I should probably shut up), but my understanding of bank is that it refers to a non-specific, large amount of money. As in:
Some Bloggers Make Bank
BusinessWeek is sharing some interesting figures regarding how much income certain A-list blogs pull in.
http://www.adpulp.com/archives/2007/07/ … gers_m.php
On the other hand, buck – which I do use – usually means “one dollar”. As in:
Just-A-Buck Your Worth-More Dollar Store!
http://www.justabuck.com/
So it is a similar high-value versus low-value comparison.
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