Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
You are not logged in.
Registrations are currently closed because of a technical problem. Please send email to
The forum administrator reserves the right to request users to plausibly demonstrate that they are real people with an interest in the topic of eggcorns. Otherwise they may be removed with no further justification. Likewise, accounts that have not been used for posting may be removed.
Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
Pages: 1
Here’s another non-standard usage I discovered through self-examination. I was writing an email, and came up with the line “I can’t help shaking the feeling that….†I quickly recognized that I’d blended “can’t shake the feeling that†and “can’t help the feeling that,†but it felt so natural I wondered whether others had committed the same mixture. And indeed they have: between the “couldn’t†and “can’t†versions, this gets nearly 130 ughits – pretty impressive for a multi-word string. And it’s one of those weird gaffes that seems to be committed most by fairly careful writers – this doesn’t occur often in quickly-written posts with lots of typos. Examples:
I can’t help shaking the feeling that when the Pistons traded Chauncey Billups at the start of last season, it wasn’t so they could sign Ben Gordon to replace him.
http://myespn.go.com/s/conversations/show/story/4301375
It works as a character study, though I couldn’t help shaking the feeling that this probably worked better as a novel.
http://salgar.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html
I saw the same documentary but couldn’t help shaking the feeling that it was American propaganda meant to turn us inward towards our own markets and away from foreign markets.
http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/showthread.php?t=21799
Struggling out of bed and making my way into the shower I can’t help shaking the feeling that I’m still sleeping.
http://www.ryersonline.ca/blogs/171/My- … sleep.html
Offline
This is part of several rather large families of blends.
I can’t but help think of X
[preacher addressing God in prayer:] The evidence is such that we could not help but mistake your presence in our lives.
I can’t help but think of Esther without thinking of that awful afternoon
I can’t help but feeling [/thinking, etc. This was reported as part of a song, also caught spoken by several of my acquaintance. Unfortunately I didn’t write down the specific examples.]
You couldn’t help fail to notice what a model she was to her students.
I couldn’t help reading that without thinking that someone has finally discovered a text-based way to emulate William Shatner’s voice.
I can’t hardly imagine X not growing up without Y not happening
[girl to boyfriend] “I know that I can’t live without anyone but you.â€
And a number of others less closely related.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
Offline
Wonderful as always, David. I can’t help reading them without thinking either.
Offline
What I like about these blends is the way they contradict what they mean to say. When you can’t help shaking the feeling, you shed the feeling, don’t you? Some of David T’s speakers also manage to shoot themselves in the foot.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
Offline
Pages: 1