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#1 2016-03-05 07:08:49

Dixon Wragg
Eggcornista
From: Cotati, California
Registered: 2008-07-04
Posts: 1375

"reap off" for "rip off"

This new laws are going to reap us off
legal discussion

Christian Louboutin – Horrible customer service and reap off
business review

Gears Of War reap off!
gamers’ complaints

“Reap off” for “rip off” makes considerable sense to me. Referring to theft as reaping reminds me of the phrase “shearing the sheep”, referring to conning people out of their money. There may be vague associations with “low hanging fruit”, too.

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#2 2016-03-06 11:45:44

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

Re: "reap off" for "rip off"

Good one. Looks like the return treaper for The Grim Ripper.

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#3 2017-09-04 04:05:45

Peter Forster
Eggcornista
From: UK
Registered: 2006-09-06
Posts: 1222

Re: "reap off" for "rip off"

And a few more return treapers:

We all like to rip the benefits of globalisation but only when its suits our interests.

... prosper in life, which would make the saying “You rip what you sow” a fairy tale , when even the bible says, that whatever a man rips he sows.

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#4 2017-09-04 06:37:45

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

Re: "reap off" for "rip off"

The version I heard as a child was “whatsoever a man seweth, that shall he also rip.” A double-pun joke on Gal 6.7 KJV, of course, but it may have been born as a mondegreen/eggcorn.


*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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#5 2017-09-04 06:52:09

yanogator
Eggcornista
From: Ohio
Registered: 2007-06-07
Posts: 237

Re: "reap off" for "rip off"

DavidTuggy wrote:

The version I heard as a child was “whatsoever a man seweth, that shall he also rip.” A double-pun joke on Gal 6.7 KJV, of course, but it may have been born as a mondegreen/eggcorn.

Being a double pun, and a pretty nice one at that, this one looks very intentional to me.


“I always wanted to be somebody. I should have been more specific.” – Lily Tomlin

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#6 2017-09-04 12:24:13

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

Re: "reap off" for "rip off"

Absolutely it was intentional (I can almost see my grandmother smiling half to herself as she said it, ripping a seam she had just sewn the while. She had a wicked and wonderful sense of humor.) But it could very easily be that someone, perhaps herself as a child, heard the phrase and misunderstood it, only coming later to understand the originally intended meaning but not thereby forgetting the misunderstood one, and enjoying the contrast enough to use it in a pun, which could then be propagated by others.


*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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