Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
Keith Miller from Rome, “a spasm of the larnyx” http://rhhardin.home.mindspring.com/imuscut.larnyx.ram real audio, Feb 2, 2005.
Warner Wolf on Imus, “who crushed his neck and larnyx” http://rhhardin.home.mindspring.com/imuscut.larnyx2.ram real audio, Sep 30, 2009
WCLT newsreader, “The fall foilage festival” http://rhhardin.home.mindspring.com/imuscut.foilage.ram” real audio, Nov 7, 2003.
A weather service radio reader prior to automated voices would always substitute foilage for foliage in Columbus, Ohio ag reports.
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These strike me as misspellings or dyslexic errors rather than as true eggcorns, but I’m no expert. Other opinions?
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misspellings or pismronuncations, not eggcorns
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will buy a ridiculous hat – Scott Adams (author of Dilbert)
Build a man a fire and he will be warm for a day; set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life – Terry Pratchett
http://blog.meteorit.co.uk
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I’m less convinced on foilage. I have some sort of mental connection between the coruscating reflective properties of foil and the shifting appearance of foliage, and I know foilage is standard for some people (pronunciation as well as spelling). Perhaps dycklexic or finger-switched in its origin, but it does make a bit of sense. The link between folios and leafage is pretty opaque for most of us.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2009-10-08 09:52:06)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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Welcome back, DT. You were missed.
The spelling “foilage” is a reversion to the original spelling and pronunciation. “Foliage,” derived from the French “fueillage,” is cognate to “foil,” an old word for “leaf” (The leaf meaning of “foil” is the source of “foil” meaning thinly beaten or rolled metal). The now-standard “foliage” is, I suspect, the result of a pronunciation-easing transposition (cf. “jewlery” for “jewelry”).
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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Thanks, Kem.
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Yes, once again the issue surfaces of whether etymologically identical/related words are different enough to count. Pat was just beating that drum again, skillfully, a few posts back.
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“Jewlery†is complicated by the existence of “jeweler†and the analysis of the word as “jeweler-(r)yâ€, i.e. ‘wares of the jeweler’ rather than ‘wares consisting of jewels’. Britishers at least often spell it “jewelleryâ€. A mildly eggcornish situation, that.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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