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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
Google hits on July 7, 2010
302,000 “Not one scintilla”
16 “Not one centilla”
Analysis by Joe Krozel
Scintilla derives from the Latin for spark and conveys the notion of a small amount. The eggcorn “centilla” conveys the same sense of smallness as “cent” does on a money scale … with the -illa suffix to either give it a chic slangy feel or endow it with a diminuitive ending (albeit fictitious). Some eggcorn utterers may even think the Centilla to be the smallest coin in some weak foreign currency … apparently worth less than a cent of U.S. currency to make it worth mentioning. With this latter eggcorn route, there may be an idiom blend with “not one cent,” but I still see it as largely derived from the mishearing of “not one scintilla” ... otherwise, why add the -illa ending?
Examples:
Lionizing a Byrd, with comical results – Tuesday, Jul. 6, 2010Jul 6, 2010 … There is not one centilla of evience, that people under his leadership comitted one illegal act. He was a member for such a short time he …
www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Lionizing… – Cached
The 2010 CCHA Championships 3/19-20: FSU, Miami, Michigan, and NMU …20 posts – 14 authors – Last post: Mar 16
NMU has tremendous respect fo Miami but not one centilla of fear. In fact, NMU would love to face Miami. Not so much the other way around. ...
board.uscho.com/showthread.php?t=89627&page=2 – Cached
Beware of Jaime Lawhorne—Frutaiga Distributor How do I …8 posts – 4 authors – Last post: Sep 22, 2008
not one centilla of a hesitation to put up the money. It may also be that you’re both Con Men and one manuevered better than the other. ...
help.youtube.com › Discussions › How do I…? – Cached – Similar
Last edited by jorkel (2010-07-07 18:50:56)
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Excellent and totally credible. I had to check to convince myself that there’s no such thing as a centilla. I must be thinking of a centime? Or a centile.
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And then there’s ‘scentilla’ – the barely perceived item leaves only a faint odor.
I do not for one scentilla of a moment accept as fact that our children are less educable than Asians.
conversations.blackvoices.com/.../c1666267c6474d32b3837ae076ce20aa?
Never before has a major piece of legislation passed without a scentilla of bipartisan support.
www2.macleans.ca/.../healthcare-bill-expected-to-pass-top-democrat/
He is to comedians what Michael Bay is to film directors, a hack without a scentilla of originality who is packaged just so.
www.monstersandcritics.com/.../Comics_n … _Dane_Cook
If you have even a scentilla of decency you will write a follow-up post retracting your totally stupid and unsubstantiated comment …
www.smartcarofamerica.com/forums/f25/cr … ndex2.html
As far as running any phase of a baseball team, they have not one scentila of skill.
www.nypost.com/p/.../mets_lost_at_lsZU4 … IAZQQY4TbP
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While doing a Google search on Scentilla just now I located this Eggcorn thread for Scintilla/Scentilla:
http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/forum/view … hp?id=2991
In that thread, TootsNYC mentioned that “scentilla” might contain a contribution from “cent,” but the notion wasn’t carried any further than that. E.g., no mention of “Centilla.”
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Yes, a great find—we’ve been blessed with a bunch of them lately.
This should have been staring me in the face after TootsNYC’s comment on the “scentilla” thread.
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