Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
I know this is a major problem that I notice often. One is either “lax” or “lackadaisical” but not “laxadaisical”. I am curious about why I don’t see this usage listed as an eggcorn. Is this mistake considered a misspelling only?
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What about ‘lacksadaisical’, implying he lacks something.
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This is a fairly familiar eggcorn-like phrase, so I’m not sure why this isn’t in the Database—it’s been contributed at least once before (I’ll give Ken Lakritz’s post from May 13, 2006 below). It’s possible that our gatekeepers didn’t find it convincing, but it’s also possible that no one’s gotten around to it yet.
I’m fairly convinced. “Lackadaisical” originally meant “affectedly sentimental.” Then it seems to have acquired the meanings “lifeless” or “listless.” Today it often seems to mean “lazy” or even “sloppy.” You don’t need to invoke “lax” to explain the arc of the word’s evolution, but the influence of “lax” would certainly fit here.
A quick check on Google shows that “laxadaisical” and mr_sloane’s contribution of “lacksadaisical” are nearly neck and neck (800-900 raw hits each) with “laxadaisical” a bit ahead. Interestingly, the excellent “Common Errors in English” site lists only the “lacksadaisical” version (http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/more.html).
Here’s Ken’s post, compacted to fit into a block quotation:
Once I noticed this, I found that Geoffrey Nunberg had beaten me to it by 4 years. This is from a ‘Fresh Air’ commentary of his, contributed in 2002:
‘That “nucular†pronunciation is really what linguists call a folk etymology, where the unfamiliar word nuclear is treated as if it had the same suffix as words like molecular and particular. It’s the same sort of process that turns lackadaisical into “laxadaisical†and chaise longue into chaise lounge.’
‘Folk etymology’ is, of course, a conceptual precursor of ‘eggcorn,’ which hadn’t yet been invented in 2002. ‘Laxadaisical gets 800+ ghits.
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