Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2011-03-08
The word “photochop” has emerged in the twenty-oughts. One could argue that it is a legitimate neologism, a word invented to describe the deception practiced with tools that digitally manipulate photographs. “Photochopping” would be a successor to the “photo cropping” of print photography.
On the other hand, would the word “photochop” have emerged if it had not been preceded and paralleled by “photoshop,” a verb coined from the name of the worlds’ most famous digital picture manipulation software? The past tense/past participial form “photoshopped” is still (if we can trust the Google numbers) fifty times more common than “photochopped.” It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that many users of “photochop” have heard or seen the word “chop” in the verb “photoshop” and concluded that the word must have something to do with chopping items out pictures. This would make it an eggcorn.
I can’t find any examples of “photochop” that precede the release of the software package (1990). No mainline dictionaries admit the word “photochop” and it has not yet put in an appearance on COCA. The Urban Dictionary, the Unitarians of lexicography, have an entry for the word. In a recent book, Computer Graphic Artist, the author recognizes the use of “photochop” as an alternative to “photoshop” for those who respect Adobe’s concern that its tradename is being diluted by the verb “photoshop” (The relevant paragraph is viewable on Google Books ), but I don’t think this sort of deliberate ethical substitution can explain more than a small percentage of the instances of “photochop” on the web.
I’m trying hard, Pat, to take seriously my interim assignment as resident skeptic, but I really think the eggcorn explanation is the best one.
Three of the many thousands of examples:
Weapons forum: “Here’s a thread for everyone to have a little fun and post your photochopped pics.”
Car forum: “I didn’t want to create a whole new thread but for those with a black G8 what do you think of these photochopped wheels”
Car owner’s bulletin board: “Need a pic photochopped : Guys, I have a pic for work that I need ‘altered’. If anyone can help, please PM me your e-mail address.”
Last edited by kem (2010-02-26 00:20:11)
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Wow, we have a winner. This is an extremely common eggcorn, of a prevalence and effortlessness I thought would not be seen again. I’ll be an early adopter myself. Two of the examples you have are car-related, and there are hundreds more. I wonder if this demographic is preadapted, since “chopping” is/was a common customization.
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Yes, I noticed the unusual number of hits on car discussion forums—many more than the ones I cited. Hadn’t thought about the car sense of “chop.” That could encourage car fans to become early adopters of “photochop.”
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This usage is very old (in internet-time), dating back at least a decade, and is, or at least was originally, more of a deliberate coinage meaning “a hasty or poorly executed photoshop” than an eggcorn. Clearly, though, the meaning has drifted over time and it is now more of a humorous synonym for “photoshop”. I wouldn’t doubt that these days there are plenty of users for whom it is a legitimate eggcorn, the user never having been aware of the original distinction between the terms.
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tyler wrote:
This usage is very old (in internet-time), dating back at least a decade, and is, or at least was originally, more of a deliberate coinage meaning “a hasty or poorly executed photoshop” than an eggcorn. Clearly, though, the meaning has drifted over time and it is now more of a humorous synonym for “photoshop”. I wouldn’t doubt that these days there are plenty of users for whom it is a legitimate eggcorn, the user never having been aware of the original distinction between the terms.
But a deliberate punning coinage that is heard/seen by others and then confused with the acorn is not a (or not a prototypical) eggcorn. I.e., (if your account is correct, and I suspected something like that probably was) someone consciously invented “photochop” and it got considerable usage by others who consciously used it in contrast with “photoshop”. The fact that others have since confused two established terms does not an eggcorn make.
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The standard scenario for an eggcorn would be: Somebody hears the word “photoshop” used, and misanalyses it, thinking the word “chop” was involved and using his own misanalyzed version enough to make it standard for himself. Others may do the same independently, or may pick up on the misanalyzed version, thinking (reasonably since they have in fact heard it used) that it is standard. This of course may have happened along with the purposeful punning, but I don’t think we have much evidence that it has done so.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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