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#1 2011-03-07 05:57:39

DavidB
Member
From: Montélimar, France
Registered: 2007-08-08
Posts: 11

Poultry vs. paultry - It's a beauty !

This has to qualify I think ! Seen on a blog this morning : “The Chinese rebel movement which numbers a poultry 50m people mostly from Tiananmen Square veterans …”.


Bi-lingual English / French amateur etymologist and all-round pedant

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#2 2011-03-07 10:39:22

DavidTuggy
Eggcornista
From: Mexico
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 2712
Website

Re: Poultry vs. paultry - It's a beauty !

Did the person writing this really think of the Tiananmen Square veterans as being like chickens? If he or she was not really making sense of the phrase as involving domestic avian species of some sort, it’s not an eggcorn.

Btw, welcome back to the forum. (Though you may well have been lurking since the last post 3½ years ago.) More Davids are always welcome …

Last edited by DavidTuggy (2011-03-07 10:42:51)


*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .

(Possible Corollary: it is, and we are .)

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#3 2011-03-07 11:36:57

David Bird
Eggcornista
From: The Hammer, Ontario
Registered: 2009-07-28
Posts: 1690

Re: Poultry vs. paultry - It's a beauty !

Lovely name, DavidB, welcome back. JuanTwoThree has noted this confusion in the mean time. BTW, 50m people is poultry? What does that m stand for?

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#4 2011-03-07 12:01:52

JuanTwoThree
Eggcornista
From: Spain
Registered: 2009-08-15
Posts: 455

Re: Poultry vs. paultry - It's a beauty !

Gosh DavidB, that’s what I call posting infrequently! I’m sorry I had to beat you on this one, it’s a gem. I think the idea of “chicken-feed” or “chickensh*t” is a valid explanation of this.

By the way, I have no recollection of making this contribution. Senility beckons!


On the plain in Spain where it mainly rains.

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#5 2011-03-08 08:14:56

DavidB
Member
From: Montélimar, France
Registered: 2007-08-08
Posts: 11

Re: Poultry vs. paultry - It's a beauty !

‘m’ is for millions …

David Bird wrote:

Lovely name, DavidB, welcome back. JuanTwoThree has noted this confusion in the mean time. BTW, 50m people is poultry? What does that m stand for?


Bi-lingual English / French amateur etymologist and all-round pedant

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#6 2011-03-08 08:18:25

DavidB
Member
From: Montélimar, France
Registered: 2007-08-08
Posts: 11

Re: Poultry vs. paultry - It's a beauty !

Thanks to all you ‘eggcornista’. Indeed I am a somewhat occasional contributor – but I’ll try and see if I can ‘up’ my batting average here ! What a fascinating group you are. Tally Ho ! (any ideas on etymology anyone …) DavidB


Bi-lingual English / French amateur etymologist and all-round pedant

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