Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
You are not logged in.
Registrations are currently closed because of a technical problem. Please send email to
The forum administrator reserves the right to request users to plausibly demonstrate that they are real people with an interest in the topic of eggcorns. Otherwise they may be removed with no further justification. Likewise, accounts that have not been used for posting may be removed.
Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
Parts of the US pronounce “creek”, a small stream of water, so it sounds like “crick”. Sometimes it’s even spelled that way, but usually not.
A “crick in the neck” is a muscle spasm, and pretty much everyone pronounces it “crick”.
I find plenty of occasions where someone’s made the swap the other way, to have a “creek in the neck”. I don’t suppose these people are envisioning that a stream of water is somehow causing their pain? The best imagery I can think of would be that in a lot of places a creek will have worn the land down such that there’s a bit of a kink in the slope of the land where the creek runs. Maybe the crick in the neck feels like a similar kink?
Anyway, here’s some examples…
“so 2 nights ago my ds fell asleep on my wonderfull memory foam pillow and his own pillow so i resigned myself to using some wacky stuffed animal type pillow and woke up w/ a creek in my neck and it’s still here. does anyone have any good home remedy tricks to make it go away? ” http://caloriecount.about.com/creek-neck-ideas-ft45464
” I ended up being charged $1500 for a creek in my neck after seeing a PA for 10 minutes.” http://www.debtcollectionanswers.com/ca … ffice.html
“For a job where you are on the phone all day, there is no headsets. I still have a creek in my neck ! ” http://www.jobvent.com/companyBrowse.php?CompanyID=8850
Offline
Funny! Visually obvious but I bet they pronounce it as “crick” so no one has noticed.
Lots of “creak in my neck”, too (about 40), which is a bit closer to the presumed origin of “crick”.
Offline