Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2025-05-10
I saw this on a personal soccer (U.S.) blog, and thought, “Ah-ha! An eggcorn!”
“The [MLS team Chicago] Fire played 11 of their first 12 matches on the road. People all over the place predicted that this would be a death nail for the team’s season.”
(http://mysoccerblog.blogspot.com/2006/1 … es-to.html)
Probably it is influenced by, and mixed with, other metaphors, such as a “nail in the coffin” of something. Google gives 1.4 million+ hits for “death knell”. Meanwhile, most usages of “death nail” seem to be in blogs and informal writing.
What do you think? Did I find one?!
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I think you’re right. I saw it today too…
‘I said the Palm Foleo was the death nail for Palm.’
from http://www.greginthedesert.net/files/b0 … -1152.html
Google turns up lots of sports hits!
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Welcome to the forum! Great find. It’s been discussed before (and I think it’s a pretty valid eggcorn because the imagery is so strong). http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/forum/view … hp?pid=114
(Our search engine is a little cantankerous, and also there really are two, so don’t feel bad that you didn’t find it.)
_
P.S. (edit): Wow. I didn’t see how old the original post was! In any case, this one has been cover a couple of times, but it’s a good one.
Last edited by JonW719 (2008-03-13 10:04:29)
Feeling quite combobulated.
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