Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
Not an eggcorn – “author” and “Arthur” are virtually homophonous in nonrhotic dialects of English. The first citation below, for instance, is from a newspaper in New Hampshire – a place where one might expect the merger of the two words. Still, “King Author” looks pretty weird through Californian eyes. And speaking of weird, the third citation almost seems to be making a distinction between “King Arthur” and “King Author,” as if they were two different legendary figures; maybe that’s just the result of an incomplete attempt at proofreading. (Incidentally, the spell mentioned there will set you back $800.) Examples:
Luke Cahill, playing the part of Sir Sagamore, acts out a scene in Act 1 of “A Connecticut Yankee in King Author’s Court,” a play put on by North Hampton Schoolo students at Winnacunet High School Thursday.
http://www.yorkweekly.com/2002news/hamp … 6index.htm
I was reminded of the King Author of “The Mists of Avalon”, the historical rift between Author the man and Author the myth.
http://www.muinmound.org/nlarchive/ostara95.html
This spell is thought to have been invented and conjured up by Merlin himself at the request of the King Arthur in a effort to enchant the Lady Guinevere into the eventual marriage to King Author of the British Isles.
http://www.schoolofthehighmagicalarts.c … 6137273431
But i do believe that there may have been rulers on this planet with-in the last 2000 years who ruled with heartfelt devotion to Yhvh. “King Alfred†& “King Author†come to my mind as good possibilities.
http://christiancommonlaw-gov.org/Gener … fe268fd58f
With a powerful and tragic love story at its heart, Camelot displays solid musical pageantry and spectacle set within the majesty and splendor of King Author’s Court.
http://www.cultureworks.org/menu_ps.asp … rent_ID=-1
King Author (my family line
if records can be trusted) was a Celtic Christian and sought to keep
Breton free from the heathen angles, jutes and saxons (these later
became Christians and embraced the Romans Church which became the
Anglican Church).
http://tns-www.lcs.mit.edu/harp/archive … /0793.html
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I mentioned this to a class that happened to include a native of New Hampshire, and she rejected my claim that “author” and “Arthur” would be homophones there. She modeled the pronunciations for us, and she was clearly right—the vowel sounds in “author” & “Arthur” are obviously different in New Hampshirese. Given our limited orthographic resources, however, I think “au” would be a commonsense representation of either sound.
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I had a highschool student turn in an essay devoted to the playwright of DEATH OF A SALESMAN and referred to him as “Author Miller” the entire time.
Now I teach at a university and am waiting for it there!
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