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#1 2012-12-06 11:12:45

kem
Eggcornista
From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2007-08-28
Posts: 2850

conknive << connive

“Connive,” which derives from a Latin word for shutting the eyes, debuted in English in the seventeenth century in its literal sense, applied to situations in which one purposefully did not look at an event. Eventually the term acquired the additional senses of pretended innocence, indulgence, and covert sympathy. Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day points out that Wilson Follett, the great critic of English usage in the early decades of the twentieth century, lamented that the word “was undone during the Second World War, when restless spirits felt the need of a new synonym for plotting, bribing, spying, conspiring, engineering a coup, preparing a secret attack.” The conniving of ordinary speakers carried the day: “connive” is now used almost exclusively in this new, broad sense

To conspire against a friend, says a popular idiom, is like driving a knife into his back. Perhaps this is why several dozen web pages employ the spelling “conknive.”

Celebrity watch site: “the audience votes count for more and I find her to be conkniving amongst other things”

Apartment review: “.Management is manipulative & conkniving and will try to go up on the rent every year & fix NOTHING”

Comment on a web newspaper article: “Is it sinful to conknive a person to wed you.”

Post on a TV show thread: “What they have done is conspired and conknived to get people voted out.”

Last edited by kem (2016-01-26 14:15:51)


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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#2 2012-12-06 11:59:04

larrybob
Eggcornista
Registered: 2007-12-26
Posts: 96

Re: conknive << connive

In some cases, the word is even compressed further. I wonder if these people pronounce it with a silent k or not.
Previous thread on Eggcorn forum: “kniving” for “conniving”

Quiz: “Are you a kniving, jealous, manipulative, or psociopathical B-I-T-C-H?”

Rant: “U are a lying kniving manipulative ugly rumor spreading psicopathical drama loving bitch”

Fanfic: “You manipulative, kniving, self-centered,...”

Rant: “dewane overstreet is a lying kniving backstabbing mother and is gonna get his ass beat if he is caught up to he is a thief and a liar”

Last edited by larrybob (2012-12-06 11:59:24)

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#3 2012-12-06 13:34:12

larrybob
Eggcornista
Registered: 2007-12-26
Posts: 96

Re: conknive << connive

Also spelled with an f:

Fansite: “People see me as: Evil, knifing, manipulative, deceitful.”

Theater review: “At the pork-sausage-making family’s helm is matriarch Dolores, who is dramatic, emotional, knifing, and manipulative…”

Fanfic forum discussion of kniving/knifing/conniving “I think you want the word ‘conniving’ instead of ‘knifing’ in the case of dumbles. unless you want dumbles to actually stab someone?”

Another variation: “cunniving” as related to “cunning”
Forum discussion “Is being cunning/cunniving/devious (chalu) a trait only exclusive to women?”

Pastoral notes on ‘Devilish cunniving’ “It’s the furthest thing from wisdom—it’s animal cunning, devilish conniving.”

Last edited by larrybob (2012-12-06 13:41:06)

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#4 2012-12-06 15:22:32

kem
Eggcornista
From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2007-08-28
Posts: 2850

Re: conknive << connive

When people use “kniving/knifing” for “conniving,” they may be pronouncing the “k.”


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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#5 2012-12-06 18:27:50

larrybob
Eggcornista
Registered: 2007-12-26
Posts: 96

Re: conknive << connive

Some people add punctuation, probably to indicate that the k is not silent.

Answer forum: “That k’niving evil little jerk?”

Livejournal: “There are so many lying, k-niving, egotastic, and gossiping whores.”

Comment: “PRETTY EVIL, AND K,NIVING.”

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#6 2012-12-08 08:28:31

burred
Eggcornista
From: Montreal
Registered: 2008-03-17
Posts: 1112

Re: conknive << connive

Do the FYROMians think that E.U doesn’t know of their knaving with a few countries the destruction of E.U?
http://www.topix.com/forum/world/macedo … AQFUID/p11

It’s a singleton, so who knows. It’s just an excuse to say thanks, kem and larrybob. Amazing finds.

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