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Chris -- 2018-04-11

#1 2014-09-17 12:04:00

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

Rank and vile members

Rank and file was originally used to describe the troops, to distinguish them from officers. These days it often, oddly, is used to refer to union members. The “rank and vile” presumably refers to the great unwashed underlings.

I know from experience that data protection in the Garda Siochana leaves a lot to be desired. It’s far too easy for even rank-and-vile members of the force to access confidential data and some pass information on to quite unauthorised persons.
Irish politics forum+

99%+ of the rank and vile members of the Watch Tower organization do not claim to be Christs or anointed.
Yahoo questions

rank-and-vile members will get cut off of information the more threads like this one happen. I think the last thing you want to do is get our communities more bored by withholding them information. I understand that others will claim that this thread just give the rank-and-vile of the whole community some ‘privy’ information but it’s self-defeating.
Gamer forum

These struck as most likely to be unintenional.

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#2 2014-09-18 09:47:01

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

Re: Rank and vile members

A widespread pun (and one I had not heard before, oddly). Seems like it must be an eggplant. Here are two more cases where the punning aspect is undetectable.

Post on miniatures board: “Axes have been around since the Neolithic, with handles of all sizes. A prissy chieftain, being an individual, can have a favorite weapon that isn’t typical of the rank and vile .”

Gaming board: “The GUO anchors the force and can either use Deep Strike off an icon or deploy with the rank and vile .”


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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#3 2014-09-18 11:42:27

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

Re: Rank and vile members

Oooh, eggplant. That’s a keeper. We had previously used eggplant for vegetal eggcorns, but this version is better.

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#4 2014-09-18 18:06:39

DavidTuggy
Eggcornista
From: Mexico
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 2713
Website

Re: Rank and vile members

Yes indeed.


*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 .)

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