Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2011-03-08
A cul-de-sac is a dead-end street, a blind alley, or some sort of physical or metaphorical impasse, in both French and English. It is pronounced “cull de sack” in English; the French pronunciation is more like “cue de sack”. It means “bottom of the sack”, and was originally medical before adopting its current meaning about 2 C. ago. I found two new ways of describing an impasse: as a cold sack and a cult sack. The latter is easier for me to understand, as a place that is hidden away, or occulted. A cold sack would be where the traffic circulation, a city’s lifeblood, is blocked?
Classified ad, Los angeles:
This house is located in Van Nuys in a cold sack street. Nice neighborhood.
(http://losangeles.kijiji.com/c-Housing- … Z140802829)
Roommates wanted, Arizona:
The house is located in the cold sack, no neighbors in the back.
(http://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/roo/1282001846.html)
Bedroom for rent, Aberdeen:
From the 1st of June a large double bedroom will be available in the orchard a quiet cold sack just off of Kings Street and 15 minutes walk from the city centre till September.
(http://aberdeen.gumtree.com/aberdeen/47/38979447.html)
Home for sale, Michigan:
This beautiful sprawling ranch is located on a cult sack offers beautiful hardwood…
(http://www.homes.com/Real_Estate/MI/City/SOUTHGATE)
Citizen Review Board meeting:
Chairman [] questioned if the car actually was “partly on the street” as it was apparently parked at the end of a cult-sack.
(http://www.homes.com/Real_Estate/MI/City/SOUTHGATE)
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David, if you thought being in a cold sack was tough, things can get worse:
After exiting the boardwalk I found myself in a colder sack on a street I didn’t recognise and couldn’t find on the map. Basically I was lost. ...
And one further variant suggesting, perhaps, the shape of the thing:
The house is in a safe, nice neighborhood, and the house is also in a collar sack low traffic area too. Prime location (5 to 10 mins)>> from South Coast …
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And even worser:
From the blog of a teen: “after that we went back to our house at like 10:15 and our coldest sac was having REAL fireworks with a whole bunch of neighbors outside”
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Just tidying up the back corners of the eggcorn incubation chamber, where this variant heard from the English World Cup commentator was lurking – a coldy sack. Nineteen unique legit hits.
Those were the days before the ridculas health and safety rules took over
Having a ride in the back of the fletches baker van was ace, go carts with no breaks down your streets on a coldy sack was too.
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And another, which even makes a little bit of sense given that curls are curved or rounded:
Is the desire to become modern and at the same time maintain their traditions only a curl-de-sac that leads to nowhere?
Gorgeous Setting On A 1.17 Acre Lot At The End Of A Curl De Sac.
Talking to a Ballymun girl a few years who was being relocated from the towers to a new house, She says ” Yeah de house is luvly, be greah fuh the Kids, I’ll be able to let them out to play on the street coz it’ll be grand an safe coz it’s in a “curly sack” and everythin” (Cul de Sac)
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Heavenly.
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Spencer lives with his aunt and uncle in a small coulda-sack near Providence High,
It shoulda been one.
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“Curl-de-sac” is the best version of “cul-de-sac” we’ve seen. You can almost hear the creaking of the semantic gate as it swings on its rusted hinges.
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Home for sale What I love
1. Coup-de-sack 2. Prairie-like yard
Property in France Idyllic situation, queue de sac, next to a castle
Cool your heels in a cool-de-sac
Driving Directions Enter Liberty of Founder Village, home on corner of second cool-de-sac
Dining tips, Serbia This restaurant is located at the end of a quiet cool-de-sac, in the woods
Washington real estate Situated in a cool de sack, the townhouse offers convenience, safety and tranquility all at once
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http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase … id:1070878 – “Head south of the river – OK, south of Lady Bird Lake – and enter the 78704 of “We’re Here Because We’re Not All There” bumper-sticker pride, and you’ll find, there off the nether end of Lamar Boulevard, in a large cul-de-shack beyond the parking lot of Strut clothiers, the Austin Art Garage.”
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