Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
Google counts on Sept 13, 2006:
3,310,000 “for want of”
11,900 “for wont of”
First, I must admit I am struggling with this one. “Wont” (as a noun) means “habitual way of doing; use”, and “for” takes on the occasional meaning “in place of.” So, I have long held the belief that the phrase “for wont of (a nail…)” meant “in place of the habitual way of doing things.” And, if that were the case, then “for want of” would be an eggcorn of the phrase “for wont of.”
But now I look at the Google counts, and I can’t seem to find any scholarly discussion on “for wont of.” So, I’m tossing this expression into the forum for someone more knowledgeable than myself to clarify.
Examples:
Princeton Alumni Weekly: Raising Kate… Web ExclusivesOn the way out we ran into Professor Gondicas, my Modern Greek professor, in whose class I had earlier explained — for wont of vocabulary — that my parents …
www.princeton.edu/~paw/columns/kates_co … 22504.html – 24k – Cached – Similar pages
The Great Illusion – comments from readers… harnesses the computational potential of the web for allowing the viewer to interact with the artist in a way that, for wont of any better term, ...
www.thegreatillusion.com/comments.html – 17k – Cached – Similar pages
MTBF—a measure of OEM component reliabilityQuoting from a well known verse; “for wont of a nail, the shoe was lost…for wont of the shoe, the horse was lost… for wont of the hourse, the rider was …
www.bluemax.net/docs/Motherboards/Gener … /mtbf.html – 22k – Cached – Similar pages
Jeff Bruce: Texans being warned: Treat those Buckeye fans with care(Sadly, he failed to get enough signatures to get on the New Hampshire primary ballot, but not for wont of trying. I still have a Who Else But Kels campaign …
www.daytondailynews.com/o/content/oh/st … 6jeff.html – 25k – Cached – Similar pages
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jorkel, Prince of Egg – You hit the bullseye when you said, “for wont of a nail.” This really is supposed to be, “for WANT of a nail.” But it is part of an old-timey story, a story involving knights and kings and battles…
So some people believe that they want an old-timey word, to go with the context, and they settle on WONT. Many of them probably believe that WONT is an old-fashion spelling for WANT. But we geniuses all know that it is a completely different word.
Pronunciation, in my Supermesohesperian accent is slightly different for WANT and WONT, although both are distinguishable easily from WON’T. Pronunciation is not as big a consideration here as in WAVE/WAIVE, but it is close enough to warrant consideration.
P.S. I hope nobody confuses your OEM (=Original Equipment Manufacturer) citation above with OED (=Oxford English Dictionary).
Last edited by Tom Neely (2006-09-13 19:42:10)
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