Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Earlier this month a Twitter feed by GrammarMonkeys noted the eggcorn “crust of the story.†The tweet does provide the acorn. I assume that it is “cusp of the story.â€
“Cusp of the story/matter†is not a phrase that speakers of modern English find much occasion to use, perhaps because they are not sure what “cusp†means. From an etymological perspective, a cusp is something that has a spear-like point. Over the centuries “cusp†came to refer to a variety of pointed items (e.g., the horns of the crescent moon, the top of a wave, the point of a tooth). Its most popular application may have been to designate the invisible pointer dividing two astrological signs. When we enter a new astrological sign, we are located, we say, “on the cusp of the house,†the point where we enter a celestial region owned by a zodiacal constellation. This astrological sense of “cusp†gave rise to the idiom “on the cusp of,†which means “at the entrance of, on the verge of.â€
Today we hear a mixture of the figurative senses of “cusp,†some referring to the point of the matter at hand and others referring its inception. By far the most common of the two figurative meanings, however, is the one formed on the astrological expression, the one referring to entrance/inception. Expressions such as “the cusp of the story†and “the cusp of the matter,†which lean toward the earlier, receding etymology of “cusp,†can be difficult to understand because they refer to the essential point of something, not its inception.
One problem with thinking about “cusp of the story/matter†as an acorn and “crust of the story/matter†as its eggcorn lies in their relative frequency. COCA knows nothing about the two “cusp†phrases and Google reports only about twenty instances of them. “Crust of the story†and “crust of the matter†get more Google hits than the “cusp†versions. Looking only at frequency, one could argue that the “crust†version was the acorn and “cusp†its eggcorn. A semantic reality check, however, leads us away from this supposition. When the word “crust†is used figuratively, it usually refers to (1) something that has a hard metaphorical shell and is difficult to penetrate (e.g., a crusty personality), or (2) something that is superficial, external, on the outside. Take a look, in comparison, at this example of “crust of the story:â€
Blog entry: “The crust of the story is that we all love to watch movies…. â€
This is not about being superficial or having a hard shell. The writer is referring to the essence, the point, of the story. In most of its web appearances “crust of the story/matter†clearly substitutes, as it does in this example, for “cusp of the story/matter.†The traditional meanings of “crust†usually do not fit the contexts.
The same line of reasoning that tells us “crust†has been substituted for “cusp†also suggests that we are not dealing with a very eggcornish substitution–the semantics of the substituted “crust†do not appear have much influence on the meaning of the expression. “Crust†seems to be playing the one of the roles we assign to malapropisms. In some ways “crust,†referring to the superficial aspects of an object, is the opposite of “cusp,†which refers to what is essential and hidden.
If we needed further evidence that “crust†is replacing the word “cusp,†we could turn to the blended “crusp.†There are at least five examples on the web of “crusp of the matter†and another two examples of “crusp of the story.†Again, though, this seems to be a blend without being an eggcorn.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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Beauty. Is there not another crux to this egghorn?
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Another gorgeously written and informative write-up—I was utterly unaware of the astrological origins of our typical manner of using “cusp.”
I’m wondering however whether “crux of the matter” isn’t the acorn driving “crust of the matter.” I’m less sure what to do about “cusp of the matter”—it, too, seems a bit awkward to me, though I can certainly see the semantic logic by which something that stands at the threshold of a concept’s center would come to represent the center itself.
Edit: okay, David Bird flew in there while I was trying to make myself more coherent—great minds, and all that….
Last edited by patschwieterman (2010-04-26 11:49:00)
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Ha! I knew I had to get my cuspid into this one pronto.
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Yes, you got your teeth right into the meat of the matter while I was still on the threshold, spitting into the cuspid door.
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Two thoughts:
(1) Why isn’t there a spam filter for bad puns?
(2) The 140-character limit on tweets is one reason I don’t do them.
Yes, it is possible that the acorn referred to was “crux of the story.” The length restrictions on the tweet cut off the journalists at The Wichita Eagle before they could tell us.
“Crux” is a better sound match for “crust” than “cusp.” But the appearance of the blend “crusp” points to “cusp” as one of the sources for “crust of the story.”
A “crux->crust” substitution presents the same semantic problems as a “cusp->crust” substitution. The words are almost antonyms. Or am I overlooking some meaning of “crust” that could make it a possible eggcorn?
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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Mightn’t crest be involved somewhere too? (I spare you, kem, anything about applying it with a brush to the cuspids.)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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Col. Sanders is cruspy. (don’t sit through the whole thing).
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