Eggcorn Forum

As a young man I passed many dissolute hours playing draw poker. One of the variations we enjoyed was “jacks to open.” After a round of the initial antes the bidding could be opened only by a player who held a pair of jacks or better. If no one met the requirements, players would ante again and the dealer would distribute new cards.

I didn’t know it at the time, but this pedestrian game was the source of the word “jackpot.” In the nineteenth century a variation of jacks-to-open draw poker was called “Jack-Pot,” presumably because of the substantial ante pot that could accumulate before someone met the biding requirements. Some earlier versions of the game, too make the pot even larger, raised the bid-opening minimum at each redeal.

Modern confusion over the semantics behind “jackpot” leads to some odd variations. We get “jackpit,” “jeckpot,” “jackbot,” etc. Two of the spellings have eggcorn potential. One of these is “jackpocket:”

Creationism forum: “She definitly hit the jackpocket on this, its an amazing find. ”

Sports blog: “In our recent match, I thought I hit the jackpocket. ”

American football forum: “Wayne got talked into hiring this bum. Oh well. He hit the jackpocket this time around with Saban.”

What the reshaping intends is not easy to descry. Pots and pockets are both containers, of course, but the significance of a jack in a pocket escapes me. Is it like having an ace up one’s sleeve? The switch may also be influenced on a phonological level by “jacket pocket.”

Slightly more common is the substitution of “checkpot” for “jackpot,” a confusion with real semantic chops. Checks are associated with money, so a pot of checks could be considered an unexpected reward. Examples:

Thai forum: “Since you are only 45 that means you still have a long way to go for retire…unless you hit the checkpot.”

Bigfoot board: “Also good is that in the case you realy get the checkpot, you are already in contact with film makers and productions, that might help to get a good deal for your footage, instead of getting tricked into a idiotic draft.”

Garden forum: “Wow…YES, I think you hit the checkpot !”