Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2011-03-08
I have frequently heard this in spoken use (as in “we have to submit an in-term report after 6 months and a final report at the end of the project”), but was never quite sure if this was just a mispronunciation. However, a Google search turned up 105 examples of “in-term report”, showing that at least some people believe this is the correct spelling. There were 4,460,000 hits for “interim report”. The eggcorn version does make intuitive sense – it sounds like a report that one writes within the term of a project, as opposed to a final report that you write when the project is finished. The actual derivation is of course from Latin, “ad interim” = “in the mean time”.
Examples
It seems that Kenneth McKay does not think that we have to do an in-term report.
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/busin … 0-0702.htm
Even if you were to (by some stroke of genius) able to release an in term report before the next election, it could be shelved as un-official and so still money well spent.
http://www.agentorangealert.com/pages/6/
I tried to post this in the database but it doesn’t seem to be showing up, so I’m not sure if I am doing something wrong.
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I also found 29 hits for “in-term solution”, e.g.,
Despite the Yankees’ struggles at second base this season, New York almost certainly will look outside the organization for an update. Of course, if injury and a lack of upper-level prospects lead the team to opt for an in-term solution for a couple months, Cosme looks like the best choice among Yankee minor leaguers.
http://www.rotohelp.com/archive/dailyrx/040510dr.html
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Added under your name, as you posted a draft. I’ve edited it somewhat: removed one of your cites, which talked about evaluation possibly in the middle of a school term, and added one for “on an in term basis”. I imagine the eggcorn shows up in all possible combinations of “interim” and is not specific to one collocation.
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