Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Our discussion about computer jargon earlier this month led me to roominate on standard mistakes in this field. One of these errors is the frequent replacement of “early adopters†with “earlier adaptors.†Google numbers suggest that this switch has appeared on the web many tens of thousands of times.
It seems to be an eggcorn. “Adopt†and “adapt,†despite their similarities in spelling and meaning, enter English via separate Latin roots.
Ken noted a switch in the opposite direction (“adapt” >> “adopt”) in the early days of the forum: http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/forum/viewtopic.php?id=489
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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I’ll confess that I really thought it was “early adapters”. Or are they different? “Adapting to new technology” is perfectly reasonable and can done sooner or later.
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It’s “early adopter.” The OED traces it back to the postwar technology boom of the 50s:
early adopter n. (orig. Econ. and Sociol.) a person or group that starts using a new product or technology soon after it becomes available, often influencing others to follow suit; spec. (chiefly Marketing) a type of consumer comprising the second of five categories, gauged in terms of their readiness to adopt an innovation …
1951 Q. Jrnl. Econ. 65 (Back matter), Many leading colleges and universities are adopting this book for class use. Among the early adopters are: Boston University, [etc.].
Usage really went through the roof after 1990.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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I’m resurrecting this old thread for more love because I think it’s a good eggcorn and because I recently encountered an example of it.
Here’s a perp confession and a bit of further discussion:
In my last post, I called myself an early adapter but should have written early adopter. So, under the premise that if literate good-speller/good-writer me makes this mistake, then others must, here’s a correction and clarification from Simon Cooke at Accidental Scientist:
“Folks, please, don’t make the mistake that one head of marketing at Sierra I used to know did (and fought me tooth and nail on it, insisting that they were correct), and call the people you’re relying on to buy your product early in the game early adapters. The phrase you are looking for is early adopter.”
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Last edited by Dixon Wragg (2018-12-11 04:51:58)
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