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Chris -- 2018-04-11
I was going through my old livejournal from college and I found this comment from one of my friends, still in high school:
“You make me look forward to college. I was talking to this guy yesterday that i just became friends with and I found myself mentioning you a lot. I really miss you but at the same time im soo excited for you too. I am living by carelessly through you lol! ”
(http://trueandspurious.livejournal.com/2481.html)
It’s kind of a stretch but I can imagine she meant that she was enjoying all the exciting details of my life without actually living them, thus not having to worry and care about them. She was reading my journal and living my life without the consequences, carelessly.
I did a google search but couldn’t find any other examples of this eggcorn candidate.
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It’s great to have a first hand story, helloroad. I think it’s a fun eggcorn with a credible interpretation of its altered signification.
Your post got me curious and I went looking for other confusions of this ilk. The eggcornicity of your find is reinforced by other miscontruals of vicarious thrills, by people innocently living bicuriously.
“Another first hand story:http://jezebel.com/comment/18101420/
Some time ago, when we were also chatting online, he mentioned something about how when he was looking at my pictures of the place I was visiting he felt like he was living bicuriously. My reaction was along the lines of, uhhhhh, what?? You’re bicurious? And you’ve never mentioned this before? He said, yeah! I’m living bicuriously! It’s great! I love your pictures! At which I realized what he actually meant was “I’m living vicariously”, and burst out laughing…
Response to comment on news of a drowning
if you cant see the good in things in fact you must be a pestimistic prick of some kind who cares only for youself and making your life interesting, by living bicuriously threw others. Leave these poor people alone and let them lay at peice and rest for one time in your god for saken life.
[...] let him rest in piece!!!!!!!!!!
I count 27 people on the internet who are carelessly “living bicuriously”.
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Good work, that first one is really funny! Though it doesn’t seem to be much of an eggcorn compared to the second one, since the guy in the story didn’t actually mean to say he was interested in both sexes! The second one is great, it’s like this person is accusing people of living vicariously “by being curious” about their lives, which makes total sense. Thanks for responding to my first eggcorn submission!
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You’re right, I don’t think the sexuality angle plays a role. The first “bicuriously” example is in fact an interpretation of what her friend said, and it’s more likely that he was saying “by curiously”.
Here are some less-freighted ways people have tried to come to terms grammatically with their understanding of “curious” as the root word.
Gamer snippet
Home gives us the ability to live via-curiously through our avatar because there’s so many ways to individualize them
Super heroes
We all live by-curiously through these alpha characters because lets face it he/she typically has most of the fun
Dating advice
Clearly… this one gets no play from the females and has to live – by curiously – through you.
BTW, there are a couple of “vicareless” livers out there.
Dating site
What I’m doing with my life
Living vicarelessly through myself
Last edited by David Bird (2010-02-28 10:30:28)
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Oh of course, I didn’t realize the girl was hearing it one way and the guy was saying it another. Glad to see there are some “vicarelesslys” out there too, but I think I like “living by curiously” better. Too bad I can’t change the topic of the thread.
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