Eggcorn Forum

David Bird · 2013-01-01 09:34:10

Last edited by David Bird (2013-01-01 09:42:35)

David Bird · 2013-01-01 09:36:06

Last edited by David Bird (2013-01-01 09:44:17)

David Bird · 2013-01-01 09:38:02

Last edited by David Bird (2013-01-01 09:45:30)

David Bird · 2013-01-01 12:09:49

There are many ways that an eggcorn can appeal to me. It can be a perfect homophone but visually way off (butt ox). It can be charmingly naÃ¯ve (great minds think a lot). It can be arresting in its reanalysis (vanishing blinds). It can be hilariously wrong yet apt (eye browse). Sometimes Iâ€™m drawn to the entries where the acorn was new to me and so the eggcorn mechanism seems more transparent (canopic >> canonic jar). I like those in which the train of thought of the perpetrator is revealed (foulic symbol) or the effort made to shoehorn the eggcorn into the acornâ€™s shape is patent (kâ€™niving). I always reserve space for those that are just dada (mink vase) ; for that reason I tend to like the posts to our â€œSlips, innovations and reshapingsâ€ forum. Iâ€™m a sucker for interesting etymology (kampong >> compound ). And I canâ€™t resist a perfect non-rhotic rethink (born of contention). Finally, I made room for at least one idiom blend (cut me to the chase). Many of the following fit more than one of these criteria.
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To my dismay, my first cut produced a whopping 72 contenders. After some heartbreaking further delimbing, I reduced it to 56. Then the knives came out. I managed to pare it down to 44. Any further cuts would do a disservice to the remaining eggcorns. I made them anyway. As tears welded up, I reduced my list to the following 30.
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kem · 2013-01-01 19:04:38

Thus endeth the year 2012 in the eggcornome

Two Forum events from the last year stand out for me. One was the discovery that acronym reinterpretation is very similar to what happens to words when they are eggcorned. No change in spelling or pronunciation takes place, however, when a speaker says/thinks that the DC in Washington, DC, stands for “Da Capitol,” so acronym reinterpretations resemble hidden eggcorns more than regular eggcorns.

The other stand-out from 2012 was the number of religious/occult eggcorns discovered. We had Vatican concaves, clustered nuns, Christmas activity scenes, faith accomplis, Jew deisms, mea gulpas, solomonlys, too edged swords, witchy boards, and seeances.

The Snot (Seen but Not Observed Terms) Award for the lowest-hanging fruit picked this year goes to David B’s reddish << radish. How could we have missed it all these years? Not enough six-year-olds on the Forum.

Just when we thought that a modicum of propriety had returned to the Forum in 2012, we were confronted by constoppated, spewtum, sticks in my crotch, feminine wilds, loungerie (for lingerie). and striptees, totally relinquishing any claim to the Parent’s Seal of Approval for our website.

Some of the above eggcorns would make it into my end of year list, if I had room. I especially like witchy boards, seeances, constoppated, feminine wilds, and spewtum.

At the very top of the best of 2012 list would be, I think, David’s inyourwindow (for innuendo) and Arnold Zwicky’s pansy-waste. Both require multiple levels of restructuring in the journey from acorn to eggcorn. Pansy-waste is double-barreled and both barrels are firing high caliper ammo.

Another seventeen from 2012 are almost as good. Animalsity may be a component of feminine wilds. Bonk bed reminds us that a head-high bed can be more than a sleeping platform. Because carotid arteries are often tested for plaque buildup, they are aptly described as clotted arteries. Furoar helps us hear the cacophony of a furor. Ushers may take us to our seats, but when they become noise police they are hushers. Emphases that get in your face are infaces. Condolation prizes do more than just console losers. Connive gives us a hat trick of good eggcorns: “conknive” and “knive” (with the “k” pronounced) remind us that the daggers are out when we plot, “cunniving” puts the infaces on cleverness. Reduce the wattage of the light in your head with a tablet of dimmerol. In a well-sculpted, sinewous body you can see the muscles and tendons. All sins are trespasses, but certain really bad ones are trustpasses. Rain can drive you under the eaves of a house unless you remembered to bring an underella. Vanishing blinds let in the light when you turn them. If you are really sick and tired, you are sick entire. A socker punch is more likely to floor you than a sucker punch.

These final eleven stand out, in my opinion, from the rest of the candidates and deserve to be included in a “best of” list:

ace in the hold
bent up anger
brainy points
GermHuns
hemlock maneuver
evil in carnage
mating name
motives operandi
newance
rabbit transit
shrill (for skirl) of bagpipes

A big thanks to all those who collected candidates for this banner year. And to David B for the tedious job of compiling the list of candidates.

Last edited by kem (2013-01-02 10:41:41)

David Bird · 2013-01-02 09:11:33

From J23, January 8, 2012:

â€œHow then, Sirra, may the Semantics of this Barbarism be Iustisfyed?â€
â€œWhy Sir, because in these Near Fortresses the Promiscuous Mixing of Classes and Stations, without due regard to the Rank of each Person, may be likened to an Alkemical Admixture of Several Materialsâ€.
â€œHave you, Don Juan, perchance over-partaken of the Fruits of the Vine and its Ardent Spirits?
â€œThat Conclusion is not out of the Question by Any Meansâ€

David Bird · 2013-01-02 10:05:22

Looking at end o’ year lists from other years, I see that some posts there included over a hundred faves. Here are some more then, not mentioned above, that I’m signalling out for special affection.

First, the list of migrating superstitious k body parts: knipples, knose, knavel, knostrils, fingerknails, knerves, knape of the kneck, nees and nuckles.

Then these beauts (see above for the links). I left the acorn where it might be needed:

sat bold upright
chomping at the bait
blazen hussy
cupboard box << cardboard box
itty it
psytracked << sidetracked
wisdom of solemn
arguous << arduous
fragment of your imagination
bottley function
buns and burner
funeral repass << repast
olderly
eyelush
pare phrasing
cable tunnel
curious egg << Curate’s egg
hot cuisine chef
moosekeg
carpal tonal syndrome
moss cake
swayback bread
put a dumper on
spread like wide fire
pallburier
petrocliffs
calm and sense
flaming yon
what else is knew
slow folk << slowpoke
exaggerbate
beasty lips
cough a plea
piece of quiet
made-in name
the boat is still out
ray bands
vanish << banish
enthrilled
Richard Darwins
Haida bed
close but no sugar
mole it over
car-pull tunnel syndrome
radically << erratically
butt oxen
rebunt << rebut
on crunches << crutches
on clutches << crutches
trumpeted up charges
tramped up charges
eyes welded up
mansion roof << mansard
rebutthole
key fop
stressing down << dressing down
weed through << weed out + wade through
seclustered << sequestered
fruit toes << fructose
episodic << epizootic
deability/deabilitating << debility/debilitating
ration of bacon
nightmirror
quarter ballet << corps de ballet
Heinz sight
shouting man with upraised arms << lol
high caliper << calibre

By my count, there were 494 eggcorns and other reshapings on our list this year, compared to 632 in 2011, 885 in 2010, and 792 in 2009. There were no year-end roundups in earlier years. It might be fun to go through those one day.

Last edited by David Bird (2013-01-02 10:15:42)

Dixon Wragg · 2013-01-10 14:54:43

kem wrote:

The other stand-out from 2012 was the number of religious/occult eggcorns discovered. We had Vatican concaves, clustered nuns, Christmas activity scenes, faith accomplis, Jew deisms, mea gulpas, solomonlys, too edged swords, witchy boards, and seeances.

And the trend continues with “concecreated/consecreated”, which I posted about just yesterday…

The Snot (Seen but Not Observed Terms) Award for the lowest-hanging fruit picked this year goes to David B’s reddish << radish. How could we have missed it all these years? Not enough six-year-olds on the Forum.

In an old Three Stooges film, when someone describes the color henna to Shemp as a “brown-reddish”, he replies “I never ate a brown radish!”

I wanna thank David Bird for his hours of work on these lists, without which we’d all be feeling listless indeed. I get a little thrill when my contributions are included in such lists. I don’t have time to comb through them and make a list of my own faves, but I enjoy reading your comments, guys.

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#1 2013-01-01 09:34:10

Best eggcorns of 2012 - the list

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Re: Best eggcorns of 2012 - the list

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Re: Best eggcorns of 2012 - the list

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