Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
You are not logged in.
Registrations are currently closed because of a technical problem. Please send email to
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
Google counts on Oct 14, 2006
331,000 “expletive deleted”
49 “explanative deleted”
The expression “expletive deleted” refers to the removal of cuss words. “Explanative” is synonymous with “explanatory”—and some people would certainly consider cuss words to be explanative—so perhaps the eggcorn “explanative deleted” makes a bit of sense!
Examples
DS Hardware Reviews – DS Hardware Player Reviews – DS Hardware Web …”Touching has gotten a whole <explanative deleted> lot better!” The DS… what a me—no wait, it’s not that big of a mess anymore! ...
www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/review/R92783.html – 25k – Cached – Similar pages
Harry Potter’s Realm of Wizardry Forum – New perspective on the …Or did he think ” Oh , [ explanative deleted ] ! ” and rush off to tell Dumbledore ? ... C ) He thought ” Oh , [ explanative deleted ] ! ...
hprealm.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&num=1139359898 – 70k – Supplemental Result – Cached – Similar pages
22Feb05Hochhalter said when this first came up he was dead set against it, because he evacuated France and it (explanative deleted) him off that he is going to …
www.ci.sunnyside.wa.us/agendas/document … pecial.htm – 63k – Cached – Similar pages
22Feb05Hochhalter said when this first came up he was dead set against it, because he evacuated France and it (explanative deleted) him off that he is going to …
www.ci.sunnyside.wa.us/agendas/document … pecial.htm – 63k – Cached – Similar pages
Let me tell you all about it, Sweetie . . .: July 2005Listen here you [explanative deleted for poor content] you have no idea what I’m going through! You haven’t the slightest clue what it feels like! ...
heresthegoss.blogspot.com/2005_07_01_heresthegoss_archive.html – 135k – Cached – Similar pages
Offline
Jorkel—You probably already know this, but there’s a Database article on a closely related reshaping, “explicative deleted”: http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/517/explicative/
Various comments, etc. to that entry also add “exploitive” and “explicitive,” but your contribution isn’t listed.
I’ve often wondered what percentage of these can be accounted for by spellchecker overrides; the “expl-” beginning and ”-tive” ending are awfully suggestive.
Offline
Pat: I wasn’t aware of the other entry on a conscious level, but it did sound vaguely familiar—and I was about to add on “explicative deleted” just now when I logged on. One thing’s for sure: the Search function didn’t pick up anything when I entered “expletive.”
Also, I do recall your or someone else’s commenting to another poster (long ago) about how the spell checker was a potential source of bizarre word substitution. That notion is worthy of a whole study unto itself. I suspect few posters ever use a spell checker, and I bet it would be ever rarer to find an incident where it was errantly used. But again, that might make for a fun side project!
Offline