Eggcorn Forum

Discussions about eggcorns and related topics

You are not logged in.

Announcement

Registrations are currently closed because of a technical problem. Please send email to if you wish to register.

The forum administrator reserves the right to request users to plausibly demonstrate that they are real people with an interest in the topic of eggcorns. Otherwise they may be removed with no further justification. Likewise, accounts that have not been used for posting may be removed.

Thanks for your understanding.

Chris -- 2018-04-11

#1 2013-12-24 08:08:00

JuanTwoThree
Eggcornista
From: Spain
Registered: 2009-08-15
Posts: 455

prince able

when you have a coffee in the mornings it gets you going same prince able as hair

if we can work together to create a profitable company and then another on the same prince-able

Jesus would have given them the same prince able that he gave John in Luke 9:49

840 ghits for this. Written as two words does rather suggest that perps think that it really is “prince able”. Why? Dunno.


On the plain in Spain where it mainly rains.

Offline

 

#2 2013-12-24 10:25:03

kem
Eggcornista
From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2007-08-28
Posts: 2853

Re: prince able

I see some semantic ties. “Principle” is an exalted word, redolent of high motives and superordination. The cognate “prince” has the same smell. The postfix “able” communicates power, capability, strength. Seems like an eggcorn match.


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

Offline

 

#3 2013-12-24 16:53:44

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

Re: prince able

Looks like one of those creative events where the root words are reanimated and the dead walk again. Principle and principal are composed not only of prince (prime) but also able (the ce part), according to the Online ED.

Offline

 

#4 2013-12-24 18:45:33

DavidTuggy
Eggcornista
From: Mexico
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 2714
Website

Re: prince able

Quite a few people actually pronounce it “prince-able”, i.e. [‘pɹιnsÉ™blÌ©], rhyming with (not washable but) rinseable .
.
For them this might be a pronunciation spelling. But it is more probably eggcornish; i.e. if they spell it this way they probably have reanalyzed the word to incorporate the suffix – able . I’m with Juan, though, in thinking that the semantic fit of prince is much less clearly apropros.


*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .

(Possible Corollary: it is, and we are .)

Offline

 

Board footer

Powered by PunBB
PunBB is © 2002–2005 Rickard Andersson
Individual posters retain the copyright to their posts.

RSS feeds: active topicsall new posts