Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
There is another site that has been collecting corky language errors and transmogrifications, including some nice eggcorns, but I don’t think it has been referenced on this forum. The site has been accumulating submissions from followers and from the site owners since 2006, and deserves a visit. Most entries would be familiar to forum regulars, but there are some great additions. Here are my favourites (with the name of the contributor in brackets). They are all verifiable in the wild, and deserve further documentation.
stay within earshout (Melissa Mead)
they think they’re such a laugh ride (Kip W.)
last vestibules of fun and merriment (Fragano Ledgister)
she was fiberglasted (Suzanne)
“succameâ€, past tense of “succumb†(Erik Nelson)
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Last night Christopher Noel posted a video, and to be quite honest, I was fiberglasted.
http://bigfoottrackernews.blogspot.ca/2 … -know.html
Anyway, I was fiberglasted, this woman (happens to be the owner of the shop) left her shop for half hour to help me
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/281 … -thailand/
Fiberglassed provides a pretty amusing alternative image to the flab in flabbergast.
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The site is a great find, David. When I see lists like this, I usually find that the phrases with a claim to being eggcorns are echoes of what we already have in the Database and Forum. There are many on this site, however, that we haven’t discussed and in subsequent posts. I’ll try to discuss some of these. First, though, some comments on the five you noted:
stay within earshout [earshot]
A first-class eggcorn that we have overlooked. Good evidence on the web for it.
they think they’re such a laugh ride [riot]
There are not enough examples of “laugh ride” on the web that look like they are substitutes for “laugh riot†to certify this one.
last vestibules [vestiges] of fun and merriment
A well-established substitution and probably an eggcorn, since a vestibule can be thought of as a small and insignificant room of a building in the same way that a vestige is a small and insignificant part of what was once something larger.
she was fiberglasted [flabbergasted]
Almost all examples of this on the web look to me like puns. But there is a confession of sorts: Blog entry: “At work my co-worker asked me to spell the word Fiberglasted. It was hilarious because she first asked me if I had a dictionary. Which I had to boldly reply, “Nope. Sorry. Don’t carry those around in my ass.” Then when I dare to ask her why she told me and I knew immediately she meant flabbergast, but the fact that she said Fiberglasted had myself and another co-worker jumping in our seats with laughter.â€
“succameâ€, past tense of “succumbâ€
The eggcorn, if it was an eggcorn, would be “succome†for “succumb.†There are many examples on the web of the misspelling “succome to,†but it isn’t clear to me how the imagery of “come†works into that of “succumb.†Perhaps just a misspelling?
Last edited by kem (2017-01-06 13:17:50)
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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There’s a language log post about surcame that’s pertinent. I see that one as a likely blend or other sort of disfluency, not an eggcorn. I don’t think “succame” is an eggcorn, either. Hard to say what it is – a contemporary folk etymology? Nicely surprising nonetheless. Incidentally, see the bizarre entry in the Wiktionary, where succame is listed, in understatement, as “nonstandard”.
Laugh ride appears most commonly in South Asian sites. Unless they’ve coined a new idiom, it seems likely to be an eggcorn.
ravi daga says:
June 16, 2013 at 3:15 pm
dude this movie is laugh ride…go for it…..you will laugh like mad…..100 of double meaning jokes and it is full of comedy and as they say in their tag line “fukrey going cheap in theaters 14th june†….but trust me delhi people and north indians will love this movie…..i give 4 out 5 for comedy ….. PLEASE GUYS GO FOR IT …I PROMISE YOU DON’T USE YOUR BRAIN WATCHING MOVIE ….THIS IS LAUGH RIDE…TOO MANY JOKES…TOO MANY
http://www.rajeevmasand.com/reviews/our … ut-romeos/
This particular review is a laugh ride that will literally make you roll on the floor laughing.
http://www.mensxp.com/special-features/ … efore.html
Actor B.N. Sharma did not talk much about his character in the film but ensured a laugh ride for the audience.
http://thenationleader.com/news/4920-it … harma.aspx
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There are some dozen contributions in the Making Light list that may turn out to be eggcorns we have not discussed on the Database or Forum.
Even some of the ones that aren’t good candidates are so funny that they are worth noting. One that I liked was
“earth fell under the alien yolk [yoke].â€
As all of us abductees know, it’s the chicken-like aliens that we really have to worry about.
One list item that looked promising at first was “revulsed:â€
“they were revulsed [repulsed] by my description of the monster.â€
Unfortunately, “revulse,†a backformation from “revulsion,†has been in dictionaries for some time. It would be difficult to determine, for any given example, whether the speaker was using the lexical word or misusing “repulse.â€
I’m also not excited by
“even the most common placed [commonplace] thingsâ€
The English adjective “commonplace†is a calque for Latin loci communes, a term for propostions that were popular themes of academic debate. Those who reshape the phrase as “common placed†are reinterpreting the calque but they are not adding much in the way of meaning.
In my next post, some more promising candidates.
Last edited by kem (2017-01-07 16:08:31)
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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Ten eggcorn candidates from the Making Light list:
“she was still milling [mulling] over itâ€
When we discussed substitutions for “mulling over†we overlooked “milling over,†one of the more popular ones. “Milling over†suggests a slow and detailed consideration of a matter, as though we were grinding thoughts with a hand mill.
“scolding [scalding] hot waterâ€
In earlier posts we noted “scolded dog†for “scalded dog.†The switch from “scalding water” to “scolding water”—a common one, it turns out—takes us in the other direction. Water that is too hot can, like good tongue lashing, take a strip off of you.
“cast a pallor [pall] over the occasionâ€
Surprisingly common. It is also comes as a surprise to learn that “pall†and “pallor†are not related. “Pallor†is a cousin of “pale,†but “pall†comes to us via the Roman name for a garment, a “pallium.”
“descention [dissention] in the ranksâ€
As a lexical entry meaning “a decline/going down,†the eggcorn is usually spelled “descension.†The odd spelling “descention†calls attention to the “descent†component of the word, which shows how eggcorn and acorn are related—a dissention is a falling away, a descent, from a state of prior harmony. There are quite a few examples on the web of “descention in the ranks.” Since the eggcorn “descention†sounds much like the acorn “dissention,†it would be an eyecorn.
“piss pour [poor] timingâ€
Lots of examples of this on the web, including one from the pen of Garrison Keillor. In the move from “piss poor” to “piss pour,” the name of a liquid (“piss”) draws to itself a verb associated with liquids (“pour”).
“in a fracture [fraction] of a secondâ€
Admittedly, both trace back to the Latin frangere. They have developed different connotations, however. A fraction is a piece of something and “fracture†describes how the pieces came about. A common switch, to judge by what is on the web.
“face-to-face with the nozzle [muzzle] of a gunâ€
A well-attested switch. “Nozzle†usually refers to a device that channels a liquid, not small pieces of metal. We do, though, talk about “a spray of bullets.â€
“a full-pledged [full-fledged] authorâ€
Another popular substitution. A fully-pledged author sounds like a writer being rushed for multiple frats. But we could also think about a writer with a deep commitment, a pledge, to entertain and inform her readers.
“crawling on all floorsâ€
On the Forum, we have already looked at “our fours†for “all fours.†This is a better switch, I think. It shoehorns in with the act of crawling the place where the crawling happens. Plenty of examples.
“in intimate [imminent] dangerâ€
I see enough examples on the web to convince me that this eggcorn has entered the vocabulary of a number of speakers. What is immanent could be described as physically close, intimate.
Last edited by kem (2017-01-09 15:18:42)
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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kem wrote:
“in intimate [immanent] dangerâ€
Don’t you mean “imminent”? “Immanent” is a different word.
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Yes, imminent. I’ll correct it.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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The colonel, feeling the last vestibules of life starting to dissipate from his battered body, made a vain attempt at reaching for Hun Sen’s throat in an effort to stop the man.
Profit of Death, e-book
That first few moments where the arms have to stop hugging so close to the body and the cold water hits the armpits removes the last vestibules of warmth that i was clinging onto! Time to get moving!!!
blog
As a result the last vestibules of Rachel’s childhood are gone and all that remains are the memories.
blog
In response brands are paying close attention to social media as one of the last vestibules of credibility.
advertiser forum
As you say, Kem, these seem to invoke almost physical spaces.
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