Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
This in a lay review of the new film “Eragon”:
“If you have read the book, this movie will insult you. The start difference between the book and the movie are at once obvious and inexcusable. This movie tries exploiting… ”
Never mind the lack of agreement between subject and verb. We are pretty sure the writer means “stark difference”. A quick Google search brought up another possible example:
“The heavy rains in the middle of the growing season in 1999 (August) seem to had less impact on the NDVI values than the start difference of the growing season in June and July.” [rains were heavy in August and comparably very light in June and July].
This makes sense as an eggcorn—speakers/writers aren’t familiar with “stark” in this sense so they think the sense is “the start[ing] difference”. That’s our guess, anyhow.
Melmike
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There are other stark entries in the Eggcorn Database: stalk raving , stark raven , and star craving mad.
The following are other ways of losing it, and at the same time, are a stock reminder of the state of the financial markets: stuck raving mad, stock raving conservative, stock craving mad, lock stock raven mad, and stork raven mad.
Travel blog:
That’s what this place had reduced us to….a bunch of stuck raving mad Neanderthals!.....
(http://www.mydigitallife.co.za/index.ph … &Itemid=43)
Conservative politics forum, discussion of Libertarian quiz:
Yeah, I think it would be funny if it switched your views like saying you are a stock raving conservative and it says you are a liberal, it’s kind of like a punch in the gut, well… It was for me anyways.
(http://www.defendingthetruth.com/global … uiz-4.html)
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Oooh, it doesn’t get any better than stock raving conservative
Movie forum:
I always thought of Michael Ironsides as just your typical stock raving villain, but he really did a great job here.
(http://www.space.com/common/forums/view … 18&t=14340)
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I liked the collocation of typical, stock, villain and actor here, with shades of summer stock and stock character
Game forum:
Sorry if that sounds like I went on a stock, raving mad rant (I do that from time to time)
(http://www.gamespot.com/users/PdPstyle/)
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The comma here isolates stock, making it look as if stock applies to the rant – a canned rant, a knee-jerk reaction?
African-American forum:
When that didn’t materialize for the majority of us, with our new found “freedom” (integration), we went stock raving mad and just hung out..sex, drugs, rock and roll.
(http://www.topix.com/forum/afam/T75C7113ENARDIGRJ/p12)
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A typical madness?
TV show spoilers:
I feared a certain WP had gone stock craving mad now that he’s leaving the show.
(http://starbright73.livejournal.com/tag/spoilers)
Singles Forum:
I just figured it out, all woman are stock raven mad.
(http://www.connectingsingles.com/forum_ … _about.htm)
4-foot deep snow and tire traction:
Four foot, that’s scary, I’d go lock stock raven mad, I’d make Jack look sane in the Shinning. [The Shining, I presume].
(http://www.autostalk.com/jeep-willys-ve … 699-2.html)
O.J. Simpson book scandal:
Nicole and Ron are in heaven with the Lord, while their families are acting a stork raven mad FOOL here upon the earth.
(http://www.oprah.com/community/message/5514)
It was hard to pick this one out from all the deliberate puns
More mundane is the reshaping stark driven mad which I didn’t bother to quote. Nor the obvious permutations based on the Database, such as stalk raven mad (stalk makes sense here).
Last edited by burred (2009-05-12 19:38:05)
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melmike wrote:
This makes sense as an eggcorn—speakers/writers aren’t familiar with “stark” in this sense so they think the sense is “the start[ing] difference”. That’s our guess, anyhow.
Is “starting difference†an eggcorn for “startling difference�
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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“Stock craving” and “stock raving” seem to be significant additions to the sad (but Schadenfreude funny) history of “stark raving.”
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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Always room for one more, said the black-cowled elevator operator.
I had expected Colt to be worried about me if he found it, not star crazing mad!
fanfic
If you really want to go star crazing mad … try to find these fixtures.
car forum
That probably drove Mum star-crazing mad. She’d always hated it when Dad and Pierce would refuse to cut their hair to a reasonable length.
fanfic
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If you really want to go star crazing mad … try to find these fixtures.
Might stir crazy be a part of this one?
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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Good call.
Not just moonbarking, batshit mad, but fucking lunatic fringe, fifth columnist, stir-crazy mad.
Rightist blog
I think I have officially gone stir crazy mad. I cannot stand this crap anymore.
Rightist forum
The air noise is coming from the upper part of the door, where the top latch is. The door shuts tight, so it is making me wonder. It is also driving me stir crazy MAD.
Truck affectionados
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This thread inspired me to look up “start naked”. To my surprise, “start naked” is the original term which was corrupted into “stark naked”! From the online Free Dictionary:
stark naked – A corruption of start naked, from Anglo-Saxon steort, “tail” —as it described being naked to the tail.
So “stark naked” is actually an old, old eggcorn from the acorn “start naked”, although of course the former has long been considered standard.
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