Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
You are not logged in.
The Eggcorn Forum and the Eggcorn Database are currently in the process of being converted into static sites.
Once the conversion is complete, all existing posts are expected to still be accessible at their original URLs. However, no new posts will be possible.
Feel free to comment on the relevant forum threads.
Chris -- 2025-05-10
My best friend charmingly refers to “happenchance” rather than “happenstance,” which I feel is a very intuitive slip of the tongue.
Offline
“Happenchance” probably was a slip of the tongue once. But both the OED and the AHD list it: the latter gives it its own entry without further comment; the former calls “happenchance” an altered form of “happenstance.” The OED article also makes it clear that the first citation for “happenchance” (1911) comes only 14 years after the first citation for ‘happenstance” (1897). They’ve been fellow travelers for a long time, and they’re both apparently considered standard these days.
Offline