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Chris -- 2018-04-11

#1 2011-08-25 11:48:42

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

pinchbeak << pinchbeck

Pinchbeck is a kind of fake gold, a brass alloyed from a lot of copper and a little zinc. It was named after a London watchmaker, Christopher Pinchbeck (d. 1732). Whatever Mr. Pinchbeck earned in profits he lost in reputation – his surname became synonymous in the mid nineteenth century with something counterfeit, bogus. This figurative meaning of “pinchbeck” retained its currency in English for about a century. Since the early 1900s both the literal and figurative uses of the term have experienced a precipitous decline in popularity.

In the years of its currency “pinchbeck” would occasionally transform itself into “pinchbeak.” Certain idiomatic uses of “pinch” – pinch and scrape, pinch of salt, feeling pinched – may have suggested to speakers an association with the outcome of acquiring counterfeit goods. Reading the semantics of “pinch” into the first syllable of Pinchbeck’s name – an Aunty Lehman – encouraged speakers to go whole hog (bird) and change the obscure “beck” into the more pinch-friendly “beak.”

When the word “pinchbeck” was loaned to Continental languages in the nineteenth century, the “pinchbeak” error was sometimes brought over. We can see this move in the 1905 French text Le Bulletin de l’art ancien et moderne. Mr. Pinchbeck’s metal is described as

pinchebec (pinchbeak)”

German texts from the nineteenth century employed both “pinchbeck” and “pinchbeak.” Here’s a translated entry from German conversational dictionary of the 1880s:

Pinchbeak, (pronounced “pintschbik”), named after its discoverer, an English inventor, an alloy [made] from 128 parts copper, 7 parts brass, 7 parts zinc or from 2 parts copper and 1 part brass, is highly malleable, a darkish gold, slow to oxidize.

I found three native examples of “pinchbeck” on the web, two from the nineteenth century, one from a twentieth century Commonwealth source:

A nineteenth century British novel: “But a woman like yourself can wear any pinchbeak pearls with impunity because people assume that her pearls are genuine.”

Ferguson’s Anecdotal Guide to Mexico (1876): “The choir is surrounded by a balustrade of metal called tumbago ( pinchbeak ).”

An Indian author refers to an Indian politician as a “ pinch-beak Napoleon” (i.e, a fake Napoleon) in a 1976 book


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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#2 2011-08-25 21:26:59

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

Re: pinchbeak << pinchbeck

Exhilaratingly arcane and multitongued exploitation of the capabilities of the web. Great stuff.Any connection to “pinchback reproductions” which are taxidermy mounts with a plastic skull attached to antlers?

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#3 2011-08-26 11:46:38

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

Re: pinchbeak << pinchbeck

The obscurity of Pinchbeck reminds me of an ad I saw in the classified section of the old News of the World, that went something like this:

Special offer! Get our Pinchbeck aphrodisiac by mail. Unique ersatz love formula has an irresistible nostrum effect on women. Get ready for spurious action, this baby works as advertised!

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#4 2011-08-26 13:59:11

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

Re: pinchbeak << pinchbeck

I hadn’t thought about “pinchback.” It’s an old word for a miser. Would be easy to confuse with “pinchbeck.”

John Neal in The Down-Easters, Vol. I, presents some sound-literal dialogue that shows a confusion between “pinchback” and “pinchbeck.”

watch putty fair—best imitation I’ve seen since I dont know when. Imitation? said I. Yes—pinchback. Pinchbeck? Yes—that what dye ye call’ em stuff, washed over with gool leaf. Pho, pho man—that is neither pinchback nor imitation. Posserble! What is it then? Gold—fine gold.


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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#5 2013-09-01 18:45:04

Dixon Wragg
Eggcornista
From: Cotati, California
Registered: 2008-07-04
Posts: 1375

Re: pinchbeak << pinchbeck

kem wrote (here he quotes):

watch putty fair—best imitation I’ve seen since I dont know when. Imitation? said I. Yes—pinchback. Pinchbeck? Yes—that what dye ye call’ em stuff, washed over with gool leaf. Pho, pho man …

Ha! And I just found this one in an online request for donations for a charity Great Gatsby party (I’m sure that by “pho” she doesn’t mean Vietnamese beef soup):

Things like peacock feathers, chandeliers, Pho crystals/beads…

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