Eggcorn Forum

fpberger · 2010-09-01 18:48:43

I found only a few “edged glass” or “edged in glass” which were really referring to “etched glass”. (The first one was an email at work.) Possibly someone not familiar with chemical etching of glass might believe that the name referred to an edged tool used to create the lines, or just that the technique creates extra edges that catch the light.

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7596_102-0. … dID=372228
It’s hard to explain but crosshatch pattern is not actually edged into glass it’s kind of inside or on top I don’t know. Diagonal lines move when I move with reflection of light, but pattern remains.

I’m seeing more interesting hits for the idiom “etched in stone”, where instead the final decision is apparently going to be “edged in stone”. I have little trouble believing that this is an eggcorn, since edging a path or garden in stone does give a nice, finished quality…

http://www.jamierumley.com/news/all/
No track listing has been edged in stone yet and I’m still undecided about naming the EP or to just keep it self-titled.

http://www.collegenews.com/index.php?/a … 10_023486/
PREDICTIONS ARE NOT EDGED IN STONE. THEY ARE GIVEN TO US SO THAT WE HAVE TIME TO CHANGE THEM, IF WE SO DESIRE TO.

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/congress-g … ion-raise/
Past practices and conventions in this regard are not edged in stone and can and should be reversed if circumstances warrant it. After all, even the US Constitution has been amended umpteen times in response to evolving demands over time.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Red-And-White … &id=788929
The rules for picking the type of wine to match your meal is not edged in stone, but the differences in wine do provide some guidelines.

kem · 2010-09-01 19:44:33

I think the substitution of “edge” for “etch” is an eggcorn. Both are acts of definition, one by setting boundaries, the other by incision and inscription.

There are a number of examples of the eggcorn in the switched idioms edged in memory, edged on his face, edged on her face, edged in my mind, forever edged, and indelibly edged.

fpberger · 2010-09-03 15:45:02

Had a sudden brainstorm last night on my drive home, and today I offer another substitution for etch. There are a LOT of these:

http://maine.craigslist.org/roo/1911584560.html
“You would need to be interested in staying for at least 6 months, although the lease is not itched in stone.”

http://www.cityofbaycity.org/Archive.aspx?ADID=17
“Every council member has alluded to the fact they will not have the city liable for one dollar, if it is not itched in stone then it will not be done. ”

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index … 648AAh56f8
“Abu Dhabi Metro / UAE railway is supposedly going online 2016/17 or before even, though these dates are not itched in stone given the economics now.”

Is it an eggcorn or a mishearing? Is there a confusion of itch / scratch like my 3-year-old has?

DavidTuggy · 2010-09-03 16:42:13

Likely related: ridged<rigid

David Bird · 2010-09-03 18:22:04

There are eight transformations of “etched” to hedged in stone which is essentially the same idea as edged, I think.

Peter Forster · 2010-09-03 18:32:44

The substitution of ‘itching’ by someone unfamiliar with the process of etching seems wonderfully eggcornish to me, and suggests something urgent but invisible which beseechs our attention and its attendant abrasive ministrations before revealing itself. A little like the process of etching itself, perhaps.

Today I am going to write about an incident that took place some week back and will surely be itched in my memory forever.

Although a very short trip of two days Kanha its Sal and Bamboo forests and Maidans enchanted me and it remains itched on my memory.

David Bird · 2010-09-07 20:25:33

“Itched in my memory” looks like a end-of-the-year contenduh.

I went looking for more confusions of edged and etched in the form of a double-etched sword. OK, no problem, if you can imagine it, you can find it (there is special amusement when something dreamt up is not there). But this one had a twist.

Medical forum
Depression, HAH, to wake up every morning is sort of a double etched sword.

Relationship forum
guys tend to be more fun than women because they are more easy going. But talk about a double etched sword! Because of my blah-zay attitude towards learning about their behavior in ‘couple-mode’, I get into a romantic bond with one and don’t know how to cope

Napoleonic sword for sale
SUPERB EXAMPLE WITH AN OUTSTANDING, HIGH RELIEF GILDED GUARD, BEAUTIFUL CHECK CARVED GRIP and DOUBLE ETCHED SOLINGEN BLADE. SCARCE AND DESIRABLE DOUBLE ETCHED SWORD SIGNED ‘WEYERSBERG SOLINGEN’.
DOUBLE ETCHED BLADE OF THE TYPE ONLY SEEN ON SUPERIOR OFFICERS SWORDS with both TYPICAL GOLD IN-LINED DESIGNS combined with much more subtle and pictorial FLORAL AND MARTIAL ETCHINGS (INCLUDING A CANNON, see pictures)

Ha! There is such a thing as a double etched sword. It’s etched on both sides.

DavidTuggy · 2010-09-07 21:36:08

Relatives of the two-etched sword:

[the US wants China to pressure North Korea, but doesnâ€™t necessarily want to have China become too pushy. So, interviewer
comments:] This is a tricky slope… [interviewee responds] Yes, itâ€™s a two-sided sword.

[Fun to imagine a 1-sided, MÃ¶bius-style sword.]

That is a 2-inch sword

[Theyâ€™ve got you either way:] itâ€™s a 2 inched sword, either way you look at it.

You can work both edges of the sword.

That strikes a two-edged sword with me [=cuts both ways in my opinion]

The flip side of the sword

patschwieterman · 2010-09-08 12:27:35

David T quoted someone who wrote this:

[Theyâ€™ve got you either way:] itâ€™s a 2 inched sword, either way you look at it.

That made me wonder whether people sometimes use â€œinchedâ€ in circumstances where the reshaping isnâ€™t being driven by an acorn like â€œetched.â€ That kind of usage seems to be infrequent, but itâ€™s out there:

A six inched blade ( not counting the handle) can practically go through a woman of Eddowes ‘size
http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?t=3215&page=12

The addition of the -ed makes some sense. The participial ending points to a feature possessed by the object in question; people write about â€œtasseled scabbardsâ€ and â€œhafted blades,â€ so why not have a â€œsix inched bladeâ€? (Well, I can think of reasons why you shouldnâ€™t, but weâ€™re talking practice, not theory.)

But extending that pattern further can create some pretty strange word-pictures:

as for my dad he was a six footed tall man in his forty’s though he was strong and tough, yet had brown hair, he was a person who spends his life with music.
http://fiestafan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15859

DavidTuggy · 2010-09-08 13:27:57

Strange word picture indeed! What was the Smothers Brothersâ€™ phrase: â€œI like to waltz â€¦ Iâ€™ve got three legs â€”but Iâ€™m in good health!â€ Doubled in this case. Like the teenager whoâ€™d grown another foot over the past year.

Eggcorn Forum

Announcement

#1 2010-09-01 18:48:43

It's not edged in stone...

#2 2010-09-01 19:44:33

Re: It's not edged in stone...

#3 2010-09-03 15:45:02

Re: It's not edged in stone...

#4 2010-09-03 16:42:13

Re: It's not edged in stone...

#5 2010-09-03 18:22:04

Re: It's not edged in stone...

#6 2010-09-03 18:32:44

Re: It's not edged in stone...

#7 2010-09-07 20:25:33

Re: It's not edged in stone...

#8 2010-09-07 21:36:08

Re: It's not edged in stone...

#9 2010-09-08 12:27:35

Re: It's not edged in stone...

#10 2010-09-08 13:27:57

Re: It's not edged in stone...

Board footer