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
I received an email newsletter today with: “I’ve only overheard some snip bits here and there.”
Offline
Good find, ladysun. We have “snip it” for “snippet” before ( here ) but “snipbit” is new. The noun “snipbit” seems fairly well established in certain vocabularies, to judge by the number of samples returned by Google searches.
In that earlier post, Ken calls the switch “unsurprising,” since both are built from the verb “snip.” True. The transformation of “it” to “bit,” however, is quite eggcornish. I can’t recall any other example on the Forum of the “it >> bit” move.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
Offline
> The noun “snipbit†seems fairly well established in certain vocabularies, to judge by the number of samples returned by Google searches.
I admit to not doing a search for it. Was it one word or two? It was definitely two words in the newsletter I received.
> The transformation of “it†to “bit,†however, is quite eggcornish. I can’t recall any other example on the Forum of the “it >> bit†move.
It could just be a result of spelling out the elision. Or possibly the thought process of “snipping things into bits”.
Offline
Was it one word or two?
I searched for the two-word version. The trick is to search for the noun by putting “a snip bit” and “the snip bit” in the Google search box (in quotes, of course).
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
Offline
Any connection to tidbit / titbit , do you suppose?
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2018-03-23 08:04:42)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
Offline
Any connection to tidbit / titbit , do you suppose?
“Tidbit” certainly could have paved the way for “snipbit.”
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
Offline
There is another, closer blend of tidbit and snippet that goes just wrong. An unfertile hybrid, I guess. It is surprisingly common, though, producing more than 50 raw hits.
Here is a snidbit of our duo (Love is Burnt) we are competing at Radix Nationals and Dance Awards coming soon!
dance
Amidst the chaos of politics and duplicitous leaders, here is a snidbit of classy and noble® pursuit.
documentary
A quick recording of my speaking voice and a snidbit of some character voices.
job seeker
Here’s a snid bit of the Whiz Khalifa show. Diddy was in attendance!
tweet
It occurs to me that a snid is no more obscure than a tid is to most of us, and the two make a nice pair once you work a bit of snipping in there. A tid, according to the Grammarphobia blog:
The Oxford English Dictionary suggests that the term may have originated as a combination of the adjective “tid†(playful, frolicsome, lively, etc.) and the noun “bit†(biting or a bite), though it says “the form tidbit is now chiefly North American.â€
.
The OED, an etymological dictionary based on historical evidence, says the “titbit†spelling in the UK “probably†resulted from the “alteration of the first element after the secondâ€â€”that is, the British turned “tid†into “tit†to make it rhyme with “bit.â€
.
However, Oxford notes what it apparently considers a less likely explanation—that “titbit†was “perhaps†influenced by “tit†and “tittle†(terms for various small things).
Tidbit or titbit?
Okay, maybe that kind of elemental alteration is out there too.
In the ad, D’amelio does a snit-bit of TikTok dance moves while featuring how she eats the hummus.
portrait
Offline
The OED says that “snid” is an old word for a sixpence. And the Urban Dictionary records contemporary British slanguage for “snid” as “the tiniest bit.” (fourth definition here).
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
Offline