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Chris -- 2018-04-11

#1 2012-09-01 15:43:34

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

once in a new moon << once in a blue moon

We had the second full moon in a calendar month this week. These relatively rare (every two or three year) events are called, some say, “blue moons” and give rise, supposedly, to the phrase “once in a blue moon.”

The notion that the second full moon in a month is a blue moon is a new idea. It seems to have originated in a misinterpretation, published in a popular science mag just after WWII, of older almanac designations of a blue moon as the thirteenth moon in a calendar year. The UK Phrase Finder site has one of the better explanations of the blunder.

If “once in a blue moon” describes something rare, what is “once in a new moon?” It was, the web tells us, the title of both a 1930s scifi movie and a 1990s novel. A trendy vampire novel called New Moon and the New Moon café in California both ellicit “once in a new moon” puns. When you push through this facade of media allusions and puns, however, you begin to see examples of people using “once in a new moon” as a replacement for “once in a blue moon:”

Korean pop culture forum post: “i dont get into fights with my friends very often. maybe once in a new moon ”

Adventure game forum: “Might need some help, but once in a new moon ‘You hear cawing in the distance’”

Acne forum: “ I also take Fish Oil once in a new moon.”

A new moon is not as infrequent as a blue moon. But occupying, as the new moon does, only one or two days of each lunar cycle may be reckoned in some minds as rarity. “New moon” for “blue moon” is the kind of reimaging that drives the eggcorn business. And the rhyming “new” and “blue” may be close enough in sound to trigger a mishearing.

Last edited by kem (2012-09-07 00:33:07)


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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#2 2012-09-06 20:41:01

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

Re: once in a new moon << once in a blue moon

I don’t quite know what to make of this varietal: once in a blue mood. It seems too common to be a mere WTF typo. I’ve listed a large number of examples because they are interesting and strange. Most do make sense taken literally, as if only rarely when the mood is right.

The only word he has said so far is da and that’s only once in a blue mood.
http://www.circleofmoms.com/young-moms- … nes-704027

I know a vegetarian that eats candy once in a blue mood … so its possible that they could be eating gummi bears secretly.
http://www.experienceproject.com/questi … ars/724145

Unfortunately if you dont get them serviced regularly due to the fact that an engine fire is once in a blue mood then you have the problem of forgetting about a cylinder with gas charged at a very high pressure and letting it corrode somewhere in the bilges with much greater risk than an engine fire .
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.ph … 315&page=2

I am mainly straight but do have girl crushes once in a blue mood [...] My bf is also heteroflexible
http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/threads/5887 … lse-relate

People who live with it, say it is only a pimple which breaks out maybe once a year or once in a blue mood.
http://forums.plentyoffish.com/2245465d … age13.aspx

Once in a blue mood I will crave some really great chocolate
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/810259

Every once in a blue mood I will come across a product that I absolutely can not stop using, and this is one of them.
http://www.benitoshotsauce.com/reviews- … ot-sauces/

I do have a strong dominant personality and could enjoy topping once in a blue mood but am a sub at heart
http://en.allexperts.com/q/BDSM-2733/20 … switch.htm

he is crate trained and if needed pees on news paper and wee wee pad. once in a blue mood he will poop outside but I’m gonna fix that
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index … 715AAGWhoR

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#3 2012-09-07 00:35:40

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

Re: once in a new moon << once in a blue moon

Once in a blue mood. Good eggcorn, in my opinion. Radical reimaging.


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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