Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
A co-worker today just used the term coldslaw. Considering that most coleslaw is actually cold, seemed like a fitting eggcorn to me.
Last edited by jonny_eh (2010-11-29 14:14:30)
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Yes, a very nice one. It has been previously mentioned , though that doesn’t take away much from the fun of spotting it. See also cold slop .
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Welcome to the forum, jonny!
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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Thanks David. How about Window Cell for Windowsill? The same co-worker used that one last week. The best part? He typed it in an internet chat, so it definitely wasn’t a mispronunciation.
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True. Could you by any chance extract a confession about what he or she means by it? I can’t fit the cell in all that easily: what I mean by a windowsill is a flat surface, not any kind of three-dimensional enclosure. But far be it from me to underestimate human ingenuity when it comes to trying to make something make sense!
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fwiw, I didn’t find window cell yet reported. [I use the second search engine (the Google search) on the Database (not the Forum) main page. It seems to be the best option.]
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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I think I’ve embarrassed him enough by noting two eggcorns in less than a week. He was talking about a bird that landed on his “window cell” just outside his hotel room on the 10th floor (or something like that). Imagine a building with a bunch of windows, each one is a “cell”.
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Yes, I can construe that. But it designates something rather different from what I mean by a windowsill. If there are enough contexts where either will do, of course, it could be a pretty good eggcorn. But it is hard for me to construe something “on the windowsill†as on what you describe. Not impossible. Again, a confession is to be desired.
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If it’s possible to convince people that you really do find these things admirable (which most if not all of us here do), that can lessen the embarrassment they feel in discussing them.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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Back to the original topic, with the high German population here in Cincinnati, “hot slaw” is a popular salad, so it’s very common for people to say and even write “cold slaw”.
Bruce
“I always wanted to be somebody. I should have been more specific.” – Lily Tomlin
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