Eggcorn Forum

John Buridan, a French priest,,may have been the most widely known philosopher of the fourteenth century. Today he is known only for an illustration used by opponents to refute his ideas. Buridan’s ass, the story goes, starved between two tempting piles of hay because his perfectly rational mind was unable to choose which pile was the best.

The high-flying philosophical issues behind the debate don’t excite contemporary thinkers. The pedestrian donkey, though, lives on, a beast of burden for speakers seeking metaphors of indecision.

Did I say “burden?” On the web you will find about ten examples of “burden’s ass.” Some of the pages do not capitalize “burden.” The authors may be importing semantic aspects of the replacement. Most instances of the phrase, though, are capitalized, suggesting the writers recognize that the phrase contains a proper name. Perhaps they decided that, in a world where Tiger Woods plays golf and Rollie Fingers is a major league pitcher, the eponymous source of the illustration must have been a Mr. Burden who burdened a beast of burden with the burden of proof.

Examples:

Comment on a chess forum: “In effect I gave up because I was paralysed, like burdens ass I died not knowing which bale of hay to eat.”

Blog entry: “For simplicity’s sake, let us take the example of Burden’s Ass. In this paradox, the donkey is starving. ”

Paper in a philosophical journal: “A Burden’s ass scenario can easily be imagined involving two philosophical models of exactly equal rational integrity pertaining to examine
the same puzzle; the question arises of how you chose your philosophical allegiance when there seems no strictly rational reason or consideration to opt for one position over another.”

Comment on a Talking Points Memo page: “The paradox of Burden’s Ass, stuck between two haystacks, never happens, since even if the two were identical, the ass would have an opinion anyway.”

Last edited by kem (2009-12-22 09:30:05)