Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2025-05-10
This is the reverse of one that is in the database. In a musical context, a riff is a short sequence of notes or chords. But many people mistakenly say rift. http://forum.ebaumsworld.com/showthread … 124&page=1 Not sure if it is an eggcorn, but it is at least as much one as the one in the database.
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I’m resurrecting this thread because I encountered this today in an Amazon music chat-room: “I would like for anyone who loves guitar rifts to check this out.”
As shadowdrak pointed out, this is the opposite direction of an “eggcorn” that’s already on the eggcorn list. And like shadowdrak, I’m dubious about the eggcornicity of this rift/riff confusion regardless of which direction it goes. I don’t see a meaning connection. Maybe someone could enlighten me as to why “riff” for “rift” got included in the eggcorn list.
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As a math instructor, I have often heard “graft” for “graph”, so this one could just be a common regional pronunciation.
Bruce
“I always wanted to be somebody. I should have been more specific.” – Lily Tomlin
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I once or twice was invited to play a few games of “chest”. I don’t think they intended what that implied, though.
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Here in Cincinnati I’ve heard of playing “chest”, and “brand” muffins.
Bruce
“I always wanted to be somebody. I should have been more specific.” – Lily Tomlin
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yanogator wrote:
Here in Cincinnati I’ve heard of playing “chest”...
Yeah, we called “chess” “chest” when I was a little kid, too. I think that’s one of those childhood substitutions where we hear words we haven’t learned yet and substitute words we already have in our young vocabularies. Similarly, as a kid, I misheard “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” as “The Palate of Davy Crockett” because I’d never heard the word “ballad” before. Of course, I was mystified as to why anyone would be singing about Davy’s palate.
When there’s enough of a meaning connection between the original word and the substituted one, we may have an eggcorn.
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