Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2025-05-10
I thought for sure there’d be previous listings for this one, but both the “search” and the database reported “no hits.”\Perhaps it isn’t really an—(shudder!)—eggcorn.
In any event, I saw the phrase “peeking Tom” in the comments section under an AOL story about a man being arrested for being in the altogether—in his own house. Apparently, two people, the aforementioned “Peeking Toms,” were taking a shortcut across the man’s front lawn, saw him through the windows, and reported him to the authorities. (The two trespassers who reported the naked man were female, so I guess they weren’t really “peeking Toms” but “peeking Tammys.”)Last edited by AuntShecky (2009-10-26 12:18:20)
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I’d call it an eggcorn. An extremely common one—thousands of hits.
“Peep” and “peek” are close in meaning. Not much reimaging, is there?
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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For me, “peep†and “peek†are so closely related in meaning that I can’t call the substitution an eggcorn – I think it’s a case of one synonym replacing another. The two words may also be related; the OED says the origins of both are uncertain, but they believe that “peep†may have developed as a variant of “peek.†Here, for comparison, are the OED’s first definitions for each word in its visual sense (peep has other senses).
Peek:
To look through a narrow opening; to look into or out of an enclosed or concealed space; (also) to glance or look furtively at, to pry.
Peep:
To look through a narrow aperture, as through half-shut eyelids or through a crevice, chink, or small opening into a larger space; (hence) to look quickly or furtively from a vantage point; to steal a glance. Also in fig. context.
Last edited by patschwieterman (2009-10-26 23:04:33)
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