Eggcorn Forum

Fain and feign are substituted for each other, and there are some eggcorning possibilities in the mixup. The mixup has gone on for a long time, apparently, back into the time before orthographic standardization.

And he would feign have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat, and no man gave unto him. [Misspelling Luke 15.16: KJV has fain ]

They would feign have the people believe that it is the blackest crime that a man can be guilty of, to attempt a new translation.

David truly cares about us, collectively if not individually, and you get the sense that he would feign have it otherwise, if it were possible.

It seems strange that the very ones who are foremost in propagating (unwittingly, we would feign believe) the error alluded to above, are they who have …

Heading the other direction:

So Cintron’s got Williams hurt twice and tosses himself out of the ring to fain injury , to acheive what ????

Anecdotally, many poor people fain illness to obtain these and use them as a secondary income

Most children try to fain illness so their parents will keep them home.

they deserve it by faining that they are emotionally mature enough to have a platonic relationship with a member of the opposite sex.

If you would fain do something (e.g. believe), pretending to already do it would be feigning something (e.g. belief). Also, when you feign something (e.g. happiness) you may well actually wish it were true, and in any case you are acting like it. So the mixup is not surprising, and both words are pretty nearly obsolete nowadays.
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A lot of it is probably just spelling confusion, though. Fane means something like “temple” (though most of us aren’t aware of that, nowadays). I don’t see any eggcornish motivation for it to fit in here, but there are plenty of examples.

‘there is a youth in the hall—a Paduan, l think—who would fane look upon the face of our younger master

Though that is the level to which the CNN/Fox One-eyed One would fane reduce her. The lesson to be derived from seeing this?

Hatred is a personal issue.. But, if you want to fane that it isn’t be my guest!

Not only did I have to fane that I was in perfect physical and mental health, I felt obligated to adhere to a specific range of beliefs

The Reason Players Fane Injury

I fane an illness or say something that will prevent me from going to visit

(Feign <> feint is discussed here )

Last edited by DavidTuggy (2014-01-29 16:27:35)