Eggcorn Forum

Mentioned in the early days of this forum, at http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/contribute/

Welcome to the forum aogilmore. You just made it in the group of 2009 posters (perhaps, though, it is 2010 where you are).

I don’t see any interpretation where “youthamism” makes sense either, but that made it into the database.

Is this one of those forums where pedantic self appointed moderators pick nits at others’s posts?

“Eggcorns” as a category were only defined about a half decade ago, and the edges of the definition (like the edges of so many definitions) remain fuzzy. Getting a handle on the full range of relevant criteria can take some time (newcomers’ contributions usually get better and better as they get the hang of it), and there will always be a subjective element to just what constitutes an “eggcorn.” I don’t think there’s a way for us to determine what’s an eggcorn and what isn’t without discussing those issues, and without, yes, critiquing and nitpicking contributions—in fact, that nitpicking is essentially the raison d’etre of this forum. Sometimes we reach a consensus, and sometimes we don’t. But the interaction has been useful—we’ve nailed down a lot of details over the years, and we’ve had a lot of fun along the way looking at how our fellow speakers use our (often un-)common tongue.

For the record, I think “youthamism” is a great, entertaining reshaping, but I’ve often had doubts about its eggcornicity. I wish the Database article worked harder to justify the logic behind it. Children certainly use euphemisms more than anyone else; I can’t be the only person on the forum who remembers “aitch ee double toothpicks” as a way to refer to “Hell.” But in recent years in particular, “youth” as used by youth has seemed increasingly to mean “young adults,” or people just on the verge of “young adulthood.” And those people often rather aggressively reject the euphemisms of their childhood, electing to use the real deal just to show how adult they’re becoming. I’ve never cared much for gratuitous vulgarity at any age, and adolescence was something of a trial for me because of having to hear classmates trying to show how tough they were by saying “fuck” or “shit” with almost comic frequency. I’d say that “youth” —in the sense of people between the ages of, say, 15 and 25—are probably the demographic that most avoids “youthamisms.” And I wish the article at least attempted to address that.

I guess I’m nitpicking, but I’m nitpicking the work of the person who appointed me moderator, so maybe my cheekiness makes it okay.

Last edited by patschwieterman (2010-01-05 23:00:17)

Pat wrote:

I’d say that “youth” —in the sense of people between the ages of, say, 15 and 25—are probably the demographic that most avoids “youthamisms.” And I wish the article at least attempted to address that.

I’ve wondered whether the perps might be old fuddy-duddies (like yours truly) thinking “ways of expression that are appropriate when youth are in the audience”, or youth thinking “ways of expression that old fuddy-duddies think it necessary to employ around us”. But absent confession of this being in someone’s mind for whom this pronunciation is/was standard, I also remain sceptical of the eggcornosity of it.