Eggcorn Forum

Reshapings discussed here: haphearted, haphanded, havehearted, headharded, headhearted, backheaded, handhearted, hearthearted (X2), fisthearted, hamhearted, halfhanded, hackhanded, halfheaded

There are lots of phrases ending in “handed,” “headed,” or “hearted,” and many of them are fairly idiomatic, leaving them open to a certain interchangeability. We’ve noted a few of these reshapings here before: I’ve posted “handhanded,” and Burred has posted “hardharded,” and there may be some others I didn’t catch. But I’ve been aware for a long time that there were plenty of other anatomical recombinations and innovations out there, and I’ve slowly made a list as I ran across them. I’ve only exhausted about 2/3 of my list and I’m sure there are plenty more to be found, but frankly I’m getting a little tired of this post – so the end of 2011 feels like a good place to draw a line for now. I’ve offered a bit of analysis in most of the individual sections.

haphearted
I think this is more likely to be truly eggcornical than some of the more intentional-looking recombinations at the end of the post. On the other hand, I find it kind of poetic – a bit of hesitancy or apathy or halfheartedness allows happenstance to stifle an attempt at something. Dozens of hits:

This important bill was in debate for 2 hours and met with a haphearted attempt for amendment by Representative Bettencourt to gut the bill which met with little support.
http://theliberalpatriot.blogspot.com/2 … chive.html

Nat pulled out a haphearted smile as she entered the kitchen, her family looking at her.
http://onceuponacity.proboards.com/inde … thread=304

As this year comes to a close, what has been your offering unto the Lord this year. Did you offer him a pure praise or did you give him a haphearted praise because your mind was focused on something else.
http://injesus.com/messages/content/116417

haphanded
In “haphearted,” “hap” seemed to be substituting for “half”; here it seems to be a stand-in for the “ham” of “hamhanded.” These, too, seem eggcornical – the substitution is clearly non-standard, but it works well and I like it:

Perhaps just haphanded writing on Millar’s part, or overrepresenting on Hitch’s…
http://forums.comicbookresources.com/ar … 22122.html

Well i think he is just haphanded and breaks everything (hugs Fional, breaks her spine) thats why the marionette doll is broken and the only non-broken clean doll is on display in his hut
http://www.tombraiderforums.com/showthr … ?p=5380770

I’m trying not to watch much more of it—I really just wanted to archive this stuff—but it’s kind of hard, really, with the higher-quality and all. And with a player that doesn’t spam the air dash at all the wrong moments… still, I did want to see the mine cart stage, and while this player seems less haphanded with his tilt, they still seem really imprecise.
http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php? … 386&st=690

It’s been done before, I know, but I often find that these ‘high street’ looks can sometimes be haphanded or just as expensive as the catwalk version.
http://kit-cat-kitty-cat.blogspot.com/2 … set-1.html

havehearted
This seems more malapropic than eggcornical to me – “havehearted” sounds like it should mean “enthusiastic, wholehearted,” but here it clearly was intended to mean “halfhearted” and ends up self-cancelling:

in my shock and passive agression, i continued staring and smiling and raised my hand in greeting until i got a havehearted wave in return.

the word is havehearted????
all my life, i have been saying and writing half-hearted!!!

I thought it was “half-hearted” also. I still think it might be…

it is half-hearted, jeez. i didn’t spellcheck, alright!? it was a havehearted typing attempt.
http://sounpretty.blogspot.com/2006/07/ … it-is.html
[The preceding four all from the same thread.]

i hope you choke
on every i love you
on every fake promise
on every havehearted appology
http://www.gaiaonline.com/journal/?mode=view&u=7142125
[from a poem by user 2Cute2BStraight]

headharded
You’d think that “headharded” and “headhearted” (which follows) would simply be spelling variants of each other. But the people writing “headharded” seem to mean “hardheaded, stubborn, steadfast,” while only one of my “headhearted” examples seems to intend that. Examples:

I have tried both addresses provided in the announcement and neither work. I have a Sanyo 5300 on Sprint PCS which works on most wap sites. I’m headharded, I was just kidding about giving up, but I’m stumped.
http://www.howardforums.com/printthread … =30&page=3

When the Incursions start, We got 5 weeks of hard flying because everyone wants to have a part of them, But only the Strong and HeadHarded will stand tall when the dust settles…. AND THAT WILL BE US!!
http://www.eve-search.com/search/author … ver/page/3

Sorry If I’m headharded. Sorry if I’m lazy. Sorry for everything I did wrong.
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/happy_mothers_day

headhearted
The first writer below seems to mean “hardheaded, unemotional.” But the rest of the writers here seem to have meant “hardhearted, mean, selfish.” This reanalysis looks spooneristic to me, but it may instead be a WTF typo. In any case, it kind of works – you’re cold and calculating where you should be warm-hearted:

Their romance, by turns funny, poignant, bawdy, infuriating, and moving, will captivate even the most head-hearted of readers.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R28QYPAUXNQ7BG

“The religion of Jesus Christ never degrades the receiver, it never makes him coarse or rough, discourteous or self-important, passionate or head-hearted. On the contrary, it refines the taste, sanctifies the judgement, and purifies and ennobles the thoughts, by bringing them into captivity to Jesus Christ.
http://hillsideschool.netadvent.org/

“She’s a terribly head hearted little thing isn’t she?” replied Rhett.
http://m.fanfiction.net/s/2751519/22/
[I think “hard-hearted” would have worked in context in this Gone with the Wind fanfic, so maybe this is just a WTFT.]

The song Cheese sings drunkingly is his rendition of ‘Head hearted Woman’ by Elvis Prestly and ‘I’ll Just Remember You’ by Carly Simon
http://m.fanfiction.net/s/3853219/11/

All of us somethimes are head hearted maybe because stress, or the people around us. But if we open our hearts to the lord and oet him come in to our hearts then he will warm our hearts and our hearts will be softer.
http://english.duranno.com/livinglife/b … t=1&mode=r
[Again, the “softer” may indicate that the writer intended “hard,” perhaps making this a WTFT.]

backheaded
“A backheaded pass” appears to be a legit term in the world of soccer/(non-American) football. In the citations below, however, “backhanded” was clearly the target phrase, but this may work, implying that the complimenter had their ass on backwards:

You are too sweet :]
(kind of a backheaded compliment.. but I dont blame you)
http://dailybooth.com/DirtymouthCleanitup/18914185

Which is sorta a backheaded compliment…cuz it implies Palin is sexy.
http://minx.cc/?post=288413

i would go all the way to sweden bitch slap ur backheaded? compliment
http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=WfB6vN4gJQU

handhearted
Both citations probably originate with writers whose first language is Chinese. In the first citation, the word clearly means “decisive, resolute”; you tell me what the second one means:

First, I think that I am a hand-hearted and responsible man, and I concentrate on it once I decide something,
http://202.201.161.218/bbs/viewthread.p … 3D8&page=5

imac shot, but after a hand-hearted love for the spirit of Apple did not allow the slightest relaxation wallet! ! !
http://ask.alibaba.com/Q/801594495-ip4-6000-.html

hearthearted
This term can be used as a synonym for either “hardhearted” or “halfhearted.” Here, I’ve gathered instances of the former meaning, which in this context feels self-contradictory – you would think that “hearthearted” would mean being “all heart,” not “lacking in heart.” These may just be a spelling error, but I’m surprised this doesn’t call more attention to itself for its users:

So much for a hearthearted fiscal conservative.
http://mdswords.wordpress.com/

She was especially annoyed with Demortis, whom she had once seen as a hearthearted assassin and was now revealed to her as lazy and lucky.
http://www.vastempire.com/wiki/Raasaa

Once beneath the sea, this Aquaman became a heart-hearted, compassionless warrior
http://www.aquamanshrine.com/2011/07/em … -2011.html

hearthearted
In these instances, “hearthearted” clearly means “halfhearted,” and there’s something more than a misspelling at work here. Perhaps these are WTFTs, but again it’s strange how common this is:

Hmn, I gave it a heart hearted attempt a couple of months ago when I first saw snot but used tissue paper and water instead but had no luck, didn’t seem to want to soften plus he was shifting his head all over and being difficult.
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/show … ?p=1169744

I’ve made a heart-hearted attempt at contacting a couple of IFA’s reagrding selling it, but without much luck or much faith in replies to my enquiry.
http://forums.contractoruk.com/general/ … olicy.html

GA helping families deal with tragedies – disgusting. What is his advice: “Make a heart-hearted attempt to commit suicide” “Get a corrupt organization to buy you a toy”, and, “Lie, lie, lie”.
http://community.discovery.com/eve/foru … 49001/p/81

The issue is that GoDaddy didn’t make anything more than a very heart-hearted attempt to find out if a simple error had been made.
http://www.associateprograms.com/discus/sutra90814.html

I mean you couldn’t have been alive in 1997 and escaped at least a hearthearted listen to Rockafella Skank (Funk Soul Brother), or for that matter You Have Come a Long Way Baby, still to this day his best original album.
http://dasfishwrappa.blogspot.com/2008/ … -this.html

Of course, I made a hearthearted attempt at the deletion log with a few possible disambiguators, but it’s really a guessing game (man would it be useful if they ever made it searchable and case insensitive).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia: … 2010_May_4

fisthearted
This doesn’t seem to be showing up in the dictionaries yet, but it makes good sense to me and may well be intentional on the part of the writers below, one of whom is a widely published author. Some people seem to mean by it “unemotional,” while others intend “cruel, unkind.” I’m not sure what was intended in the last excerpt here.

He was a fist-hearted fifteen-year-old man, but that night his tears were running full as he asked.
http://www.kelvinchristopherjames.com/s … story=ties
[The author has books out on HarperCollins, etc. – this is the only citation on books.google.com.]

Some people are just so fist-hearted that they can’t see others enjoying love and happiness without trying to stamp it out.
http://rolanni.livejournal.com/381067.h … ad=2015115

I’m also on that happy-go-lucky trip that’s bound to crash against people like her fist-hearted driving instructor Scott ( Eddie Marsan ) who spits out conspiracy theories as an affirmation of his contempt for the world.
http://hallucina.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html

Uber is a fist hearted person, big, strong, stubborn and very clumsy.
http://wiki.battlemaster.org/wiki/Zarkonian_Family

hamhearted
Another innovatory coinage that may be fully intentional on the part of writers. It shows up about 8 times on books.google.com, so it’s not common, but it’s been used by no less a stylist than James Agee; he and most of the others there seem – somewhat surprisingly – to be using it for “cold-hearted.” However, except in the puzzling final citation, the writers below clearly mean “hammy, cheesy, overdone”:

Callas’ style of
movement on stage strangely resembles the striding and lurching of the
hamhearted operatic actress, but she moves so gracefully, so alluringly,
with such authority, that even opera’s baroque gestures take on breathtaking
conviction.
http://www.operafreaks.com/Time-Magazin … t3111.html

in a whole, everyone’s got some sort of hamhearted school of thought of how you’re on the way to crewing up and what have u got to do about it…
http://nuzeto.xanga.com/83769000/item/

This one time. I got sent to study hall in the morning. And at first, everyone made fun of me because.. Well actually, everyone made fun of each other. We really didnt get along. But after about 97 minutes of ham-hearted drama we all became friends and saw that we werent so different after all.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic … 77?page=33

Clearly, the ham-hearted author of this speech was neither Chief Seattle
nor anyone concerned about what he might have seen in his lifetime.
http://www.fs.fed.us/eco/eco-watch/ew920221

South Park, like all television shows, is moronic. But at least it’s a break from the cheesy, ham-hearted liberal commentary of Family Guy and The Simpsons.
http://www.revleft.com/vb/south-park-an … d2cf7&

That’s when I realized I was about 20 feet away from the most famous human being in the world, Barack Hussein Obama, who gave us all a lame lecture about how we need to “get out the vote” and then wrapped it up with a ham-hearted “go get ‘em, Duke Dogs!” and then informed us he was off to “shake some hands”.
http://appledexterlini.livejournal.com/

Just a simple guy with a ham-hearted. ibanez guitar
http://thefeeling.forums.umusic.co.uk/u … serID=3674

halfhanded
“Half-handed” seems like a perfectly reasonable way of saying “incompetent, ham-handed,” and some of the writers appear to intend just that. For others, this may be a slightly ham-handed synonym for “half-hearted.” There are a number of instances of the latter meaning on books.google.com, and it’s interesting that – if the dates can be trusted – many of them appear to be from the end of the 19th or beginning of the 20th century. It looks like this may have gained some currency for a while over a century ago and then disappeared again until recently:

If “The Best Thing” was a half-handed attempt at slipping some teen pop influence into Avalon’s more sophisticated dance pop, then this song is an unabashed attempt at being a teenager again.
http://www.epinions.com/review/Oxygen_b … 4342466180

It’s a half-handed attempt to blame women for the obesity epidemic—
Mothers took jobs outside the home, thus, they’re not “caring properly for their children” like they ‘should be’.
http://nenona.tumblr.com/post/635399801 … ts-how-the

In my half-handed attempt to complete the piece at 3 a.m., I foolishly mistook Vetco Gray’s revenue flow and brainlessly translated it as net profit.
http://nly.bloggingstocks.com/bloggers/ … r/page/34/

Yet our military brass is reluctant to deploy the non-lethal weapon. The idea of disabling but not killing strikes some as a half-handed attempt to change the game.
http://policythought.blogspot.com/2008/ … y-gun.html

And, unfortunately, they fight and fight the same race of creatures over and over again, lending the movie a shiny sheen of repetition, offering only a half-handed attempt at a love story to bookend the action sequences.
http://www.cinemaeye.com/index/reviews/rev_more/733/

hackhanded
In some cases, the writer clearly meant “cackhanded, incompetent”; in others, “backhanded” seems to be the standard phrase. In either case, “hacking” works, since its resonances include both imprecision and “cutting.” It’s possible the writer of the final citation meant something like “underhanded, deceptive” or even “backdoor.”

At first glance, minefields would seem to furnish a wildly hackhanded propaganda victory to the enemy, another juicy chance for Al-Jazeera to trumpet American barbarism.
http://colormeimpressed.blogspot.com/20 … chive.html

And the phrase is ‘hackhanded compliment’. A backhanded insult is just redundant.
http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic. … &t=1124583
[Perhaps this one is just a b>>h typo.]

Allowing gay marriage is a hackhanded way of saying that this is good for society.
http://www.deseretnews.com/user/comment … .html?pg=4

half-headed
As far as I can tell, this is the only one of these compounds included in the OED. Interestingly, it doesn’t seem to be any more current than many of the others. And while the dictionary feels this should mean “stupid,” “half-hearted” may be closer to the mark for most of the citations below.

Trucy made a half-headed attempt to regain her performance composure, and failed.
http://m.fanfiction.net/s/4435139/1/

Tom Striplin’s half-headed attempt to answer questions that I had submitted to the Board of Education (“Eight answers, one suggestion,” Nov. 22 Times-News) is not sufficient and is not adequate to reveal the information requested.
http://times-news.com/archive/x1540412526/print

It is also true that this isn’t due to consumer demand, but a sort of half-headed attempt to be “first.”
http://open.salon.com/blog/linthesouthe … y_is_slain

Edit: Oops—I left “hackhanded” out of the list at the top.

Last edited by patschwieterman (2011-12-31 20:54:49)