Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2025-05-10
One of my personal favourites is the use of the word pacific or pacifically to mean specific.
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I have heard this one before too, but was wondering whether it was a real eggcorn as ‘pacifically’ doesn’t really make sense in itself. Nor is it a malapropism as pacifically is not a real word used in a wrong context. I don’t know what you would call it!
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I don’t think it’s an eggcorn, since the speakers who use it for “specifically” probably aren’t aware of its standard definition. But it sure looks like a malapropism to me. “Pacifically” is a perfectly fine word meaning “peaceably”—it just can’t mean “specifically.”
I’ve seen suggestions online that this usage is the product of either slang or dialect, but I haven’t seen it often enough to have an opinion.
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I believe pacifically is a close relation to what I hear frequently since I moved to Pennsylvania. “Posed to” dropping the first syllable in the word. Example: I’m posed to work today for I’m supposed to work today.
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