Eggcorn Forum

“You really do say the most extraordinary things sometimes.” He said with haughtier.

The story line mainly hinges on the long standing feud between the resident Queen Bee Mary Davenport, played with great haughtier by Lesley Bond, and a new Wings resident Lotta Bainbridge (Margaret McCarthy).

The woman peered down at Frighan with such haughtier that they momentarily lost sight of the fact that she was a naked slave.

No artist since Toulouse-Lautrec –– the dwarf who, for all his sophistication, was obliged to gaze up at the woman in the brothels of Paris from the perspective of a small boy –– has captured such haughtier as well as Benisatto has done here.

The haut/haught of hauteur and haughty come from a single origin in old French, yet there is something more than slightly eggcornish in perceiving haughty within hauteur . The nominalizing suffix – er is already quite prolific, designating the subject or object of a verb ( keeper ‘guardian’ vs. ‘something worth keeping’), and occurrence of a verb ( ouster ), among a number of other things. The meaning ‘quality of an adjective’ (more prototypically associated with the suffix – ness ) is almost to be expected for such a morpheme, and may well be perceived here.

I don’t remember whether we’ve had any other – eur / – ier switches (in either direction).

Last edited by DavidTuggy (2013-02-16 12:05:10)