Eggcorn Forum

We have amassed a small but fascinating collection of religious eggcorns. Our coverage ranges over Hinduism (karma sutra), Confucianism (Confusionism), Judaism (Halftorah), Catholicism (Rosemary beads, Sistercian order), Wicca, (convent of witches) and Islam (Muslin).

Perhaps we can add “acidic Jews” for “Hasidic Jews” to the list. Problem is, almost all web citations for “acidic Jews” are slurs or deliberate puns. Here’s one that may not be:

Romanian youth bulletin board: “look the acidic jews... what a ppl of stand-firm ideology.”

We have a number of sites on which people report that they or someone they knew/overheard confused “Hasidic Jews” and “acidic Jews.” Five such sites:

On a site collecting odd things said by parens: “Me: I live in a Jewish neighborhood now. Mother: Oh? Do you see acidic Jews walking around?”

Site reporting overheard conversations: “Hey, look at all those Amish people! Oh, wait, are they Amish or acidic Jews ?”

NY/NJ Chat room: “when i was little and i heard the term ‘hacidic jews’ i thought they were saying ’ acidic jews ’ so i assumed they were just angry and bitter about something or other”

Photography bulletin board: “When I was younger I thought that it was ‘ Acidic ‘ jews. ”

Skateboarding forum: “once i saw hasidic jews at like a mall and i asked my mom who they were were and i thought she said ‘ acidic jews ‘ and was really scared of hasidic jews for like 4 months”

We also have several hundred web sites using the spelling “Hacidic Jews.” This error is possibly but unprovably primed by the semantics and sound of “acid.”