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Chris -- 2025-05-10
Wow! Somebody help me with this one. Up until today I have only heard the usage “sense danger” and never “scent(s) danger,” but when investigating the latter I saw it as a distinct example in one of the online dictionaries. So, are both usages proper? Or am I the one using the eggcorn?
Dictionary usage here:
scent – definition of scent by the Free Online Dictionary … – 9:57amTo suspect or detect as if by smelling: scented danger. 3. To fill with a pleasant odor; perfume: when blossoms scent the air. v.intr. ...
www.thefreedictionary.com/scent – Cached – Similarhttp://www.thefreedictionary.com/scent
(As an aside, I’m sure someone is going to suggest “sent danger” as well, but I don’t see the imagery in that).
Last edited by jorkel (2010-04-16 13:16:29)
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The words “scent” and “sense” derive from the same Latin source. Tough to say where in the long coevolution of the two words that “scent danger” and “sense danger” first appeared and whether one expression was/is dependent on the other.
The noun switch in “scents of danger” seems more like a more obvious substitution of “scents” for “sense.”
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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