Eggcorn Forum

There are many situations in which one might make arrangements to defer payments, and in this sense one can “defer costs”. But there are many cases where the arrangement is actually to “defray costs”, but the writer uses “defer”. I’m thinking this is just a substitution of a more familiar word without any real eggcorniness since there’s no sense in which any costs are deferred until later in the examples I’ve found.

we will award a one-time $1000 Scholarship to help defer the costs of the visit

Contributions greater than $50.00 will help defer the costs of event insurance and help offset the costs for more soldiers/veterans and their family members

We get a lot of requests for ‘split charters’. Some people like to do this to help defer the costs. Carl tries his hardest to put parties together, but he recommends that you talk with other guests at your resort/hotel/bar/restaurant/beach to see if you meet anyone also interested in splitting a charter.

Last edited by fpberger (2011-06-09 16:36:50)