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Chris -- 2018-04-11

#1 2011-07-01 14:21:52

kem
Eggcornista
From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2007-08-28
Posts: 2851

wall << wool

Writers on several dozen web sites think that the idiom “pull the wool over X’s eyes” is “pull the wall over X’s eyes.” See three samples below.

The conjunction of wool and eyes seems to have originated in the U.S. in the first half of the nineteenth century – the earliest record in the OED is from an 1839 NY journal (“That lawyer has been trying to spread the wool over your eyes.”). Etymologists tend to make a connection between the idiom and the wool used in wigs. In the period in which the idiom was coined, however, the adjective “wooly” was already in use as a figurative way of describing something indefinite/indistinct, so the origin may be somewhat less prosaic than the wig story. At any rate, replacement of “wool” with “wall” has the appeal of transparency. Or, if you prefer, of opacity.

Bulletin board post: “she got all pissed off like I had a secret MySpace behind her back and was trying to pull the wall over her eyes.”

Web fiction: “‘Sharp kids, we can’t pull the wall over your eyes,’ Kagura says, sweetly.”

Comment on news article at IrishCentral: “, we are the old style republicans, u can’t pull the wall over our eyes.”


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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#2 2011-07-02 23:04:31

burred
Eggcornista
From: Montreal
Registered: 2008-03-17
Posts: 1112

Re: wall << wool

A wall has the virtue of parallelism in lls, which exerts a mighty pull, by the evidence of pool the wool over one’s eyes, and pull the wull.

ALSO DONT PULL THE WULL OVER MY EYES STATING THAT NO RED EVEN USE THIRD PARTY PROGRAMS CAUSE I KNOW THATS A LOAD OF FALSIFIED INFORMATION !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Facebook software forum

Netanyahu is trying to pool the wool over those fools who want the wool pooled over their heads.
Mideast politics forum

Pooling the wool over their eyes makes sense. As much sense as “putting the wool over”.

How easy it is to put the wool over someone’s eyes.
Huffington Post comment

More variations on what can be pulled over one’s eyes: the world, and the will, like glamour.

WHAT IN HELL IS THE GOVERMENT TRYING TO DO .NO SAVING COST ME MORE. THEY CANNOT PULL THE WORLD OVER MY EYES.THEY CLOSE DOWN LAST FACTORY IN U.S.AND SENT TO CHINA TO MAKE THIS PIECE JUNK??????
The threat of energy-saving light bulbs

When the chain of events come back around you realize the you were just a pawn in a game of chess. I mean we are talking about smart, manipulative, methodical beings that are up to no good 24-7. I mean they’d have to be to pull the world over your eyes and be 100 steps ahead of you at any given moment. Right?
Self-help blog comment

don’t forget, they renamed Cap & Trade the “Energy Bill” to TRY to pull the will over our eyes.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index … 251AApmKm7

You can pull the will over the eyes of the world from an outer appearance, however when one is of the Spirit one can discern the things of GOD and you will know them by their fruits.
Holocaust denial forum

All the questions and every one paying attention to the fact that there is a possibility that someone might be trying to pull the will over our eyes.
http://indigosociety.com/showthread.php … -list/page

If I was trying to pull the will over the world’s eyes with some new product, the last thing I would want to do is
http://www.ak47.net/archive/topic.html? … 6&t=179529

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#3 2011-07-03 16:57:47

patschwieterman
Administrator
From: California
Registered: 2005-10-25
Posts: 1680

Re: wall << wool

Having the wood pulled over your eyes would also block your view. The L and D keys are hit by different hands, but this might be a WTFT:

I’m not a huge fan of Al Pacino (his BIG speeches in the move Heat (1995) pretty much say it all) but in the movie Donnie Brasco (1997) his character was given some really great eggcorns, if you pay attention. The one I remember is “Pull the wood over my eyes.”
http://www.fluther.com/88040/what-are-s … victim-to/
[Is this the website of Kem’s cousin Fred? That might explain the shared interest in eggcorn-hunting.]

Get creative girl, you’re a performer, you’re not trying to pull the wood over anybody’s eyes!
http://forum.stripperweb.com/archive/in … 32223.html

Don’t let the puppet board members pull the wood over your eyes and force a decision that is good for teachers but bad for kids.
http://www.sodusobserver.com/2011/06/bl … mb-in.html

Suffice to say that their attempt to pull the wood over my eyes this past Tuesday, July 20, 2009 was pathetic to say the lest.
Last edited by patschwieterman (2011-07-03 17:00:50)

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