Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2025-05-10
I don’t really know what to make of this reshaping. It almost appears as if a new word is being used in certain subcultures, that is a blend between “masculine” and “muscular”.
Looking for partner
hi i am 5’11 musculine build very athletic and energetic
Quiz set
Flashcard sets with a ‘androgynous’ term meaning ‘musculine and feminine’
Name meanings
Torsten sounds very musculine, strong. The hammer of God!
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Related, from an email to A Word A Day:
From: Betsy Caney ¶ Subject: portmanteau words ¶ My sister has a knack for creating portemanteau words. She’s always been told it’s dyslexia. We call it creative, and always
enjoy it when a new one pops out. I adopted “huscular†into my own lexicon years ago!
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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Her sister’s fused synapse event was not unique; there are other “huskular” physiques out there, though most of these were-dogs look like intentional GMOs (grammatically-modified organisms).
I’ve heard of deboning chickens, but I was surprised to find lots of instances of emusculation of humans. You would wonder if they have a specific muscle in mind. Not everyone is thinking manflesh, as the following example shows. Emusculation here seems to imply social disempowerment.
Rude behaviour at the dinner table
She should have been more confident, b/c it definitely seems like he totally emusculated her in front of his whole family
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“Musculine” is a code word in certain subcultures. As the Urban Dictionary points out, it refers to a certain style of gay maleness (my fingers tried to write “gale mayness”). It also seems to refer to a ribbed female form.
Still, I see enough examples that occur in a context that requires “masculine” (e.g., “musculine and feminine”) to convince me that it’s a real eggcorn, with “muscle” and its meanings being imported into “masculine.”
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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