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#1 2006-09-24 08:58:15

Peter Forster
Eggcornista
From: UK
Registered: 2006-09-06
Posts: 1222

bowl of contention

Heard in the wild; checked google and found the following…
Purely from an art perspective, an open bowl of contention is whether computer generated art deserves the same merit as more traditional forms of art ( in …
answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060917055354AAURCX0 – 136k – 22 Sep 2006 – Donna Williams writes alot about this kind of thing, i find it really interesting. its a massive bowl of contention, and everyone is arguing over it.. there …
eleaticus.blog-city.com/autism__social_roots_of_lanaguage.htm – 19k –
Commissioner Herbert said that it is a bowl of contention with a lot of developers in the area. With a tax exempt organization that competes in the same …
www.co.utah.ut.us/Dept/COMMISH/Data/Min … 112598.htm – 31k –
The initial imagery for me was a quarrel about soup, but a moments reflection led to a likelier link with sport.(?)

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#2 2006-09-24 09:36:33

Peter Forster
Eggcornista
From: UK
Registered: 2006-09-06
Posts: 1222

Re: bowl of contention

The reference to soup was not just a facetious aside, for bones make an excellent stock and soup may be served in bowls.
I can’t help noting further idiom-leakage in the phrase ‘bone of convention’ where the bone can unite or divide depending on the sense of ‘convention’.
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM IN BRITAIN: The Quiet Revolution – Annual …In 1964, AH Birch fairly summed up the state of the argument by declaring that in Britain “the electoral system is no longer a bone of convention” (Birch …
arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.polisci.8.082103.104930

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#3 2012-05-29 20:20:00

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

Re: bowl of contention

Soup to nuts:

What a bomb of contention arose when my Aunt Bette brought up how “our real name had at one time been Chisum!” Whhhhooooowwwhhheeeee!
What’s in a name

Bones of tension can lead to sprung angles:

rather it is an urgent political priority, a bone of continual tension
Crime and punishment

the arrogation of privilege and self-advantage becomes a bone of ever increasing tension
Religion forum

Mixed metaphor slash idiom blend.

To many, he made a pact with the devil and to his enemies, this pact is another string in their bow of contention about his mismanagement of the economy.
Why don’t they listen to us Blog

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#4 2012-05-29 23:00:54

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

Re: bowl of contention

The web also has a couple of dozen examples of “bode of contention.”

Kart club forum: “Race dates have always been a bode of contention at LKC,”

Posted article: “Duplication is a major bode of contention in optimisation circles.”

Camera bulletin board: “this was a severe bode of contention for Nikon owners who had to pay extra for Capture2 software or buy an independent one for around $500. ”


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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#5 2012-05-30 00:34:51

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

Re: bowl of contention

Boons can bode ill.

The lodge and a few cottages are the only habitations within this district. It is the property of the duke of Beaufort, and was long a boon of contention between his grace’s predecessors and some gentlemen of the county.
The Beauties of England and Wales, 1810

The basis for distribution of resources among various provinces of Pakistan has always been a boon of contention.
South Asian Finances

It was finally agreed that the Home Ministry, that remained a boon of contention, will go to the Maoists.
Nepali politics

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#6 2012-05-30 13:37:59

Peter Forster
Eggcornista
From: UK
Registered: 2006-09-06
Posts: 1222

Re: bowl of contention

There’s about 100 of these, many from African countries, but here’s one from New York:

When couples disagree and eventually decide to go their separate ways, the children are usually the born of contention.

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#7 2012-05-30 23:01:49

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

Re: bowl of contention

David’s “bone of _ tension” suggests another possible eggcorn: “contension” instead of “contention.” Lots of examples on the web of “contension with.”

“Tension” and the ”-tention” radix both derive from the same Latin verb. Even so, additional semantic baggage has been acquired by “tension” in recent centuries and the baggage may be carried, eggcorn-like, into “con-tension” blend. Contention often produces tension.

We also have a cousin misspelling, “stand at attension,” which may highlight the tension generated by a rigid stance. Examples here.


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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#8 2012-05-31 09:29:42

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

Re: bowl of contention

I always seem to hurt someone. My tensions are good, but someone seems to get hurt.
http://bsexy21j.blogspot.ca/

Agreed, Kem. Eggcorns. “My tensions are good” would have made a nice idiom. I maintain a measured tautness of bowstring. My sinews are appropriately tuned. My catapults have the right strain.

The tension in attention made explicit:

the jockstrap does not show much room to grow, or stand at a tension.
Man hunt

Over 600 enlistees and potential enlistees stand at a tension as they count-off at the start of the Warrior Challenge.
Online newspaper

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