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
Don’t try them, shoot them onsite and throw them overboard. Fewer pirates in the world and cheaper than trials.
Larry was afraid the NYPD would shoot him onsite for what he had done weeks earlier, shooting those other cops.
as to that troublesome north field and the quarrelsome neighbor, please refrain from
shooting Mr. Henry onsite as much as it might bring you pleasure and cure the situation.
I remember being on the golf course and coming into the club house and guy were betting that the police would shoot out the tires or shoot him onsite
A man could just walk into his home and they would shoot him onsite or worst put him in a hearse to poison his inner mind, and take whatever control he has left.
In America, you could shoot them onsite for trespassing. They have no right to be on your land.
The on and site can be separate words, unsurprisingly:
They told me to shoot him on site, but I couldn’t do it. I’ve done it so many times before… and yet, I couldn’t do it to this one. He was different.
Taking the punk alive is dicey, so shoot him on site!
The expected expression (for me, at least) is shoot them on sight , i.e. as soon as you see them. But of course instantaneous shooting implies shooting them at the same place (the same site ) as where they were when you saw them. That is, you shoot them right then and there . Most of the examples above seem to give some emphasis to that location, in any case: the boat for the pirates, the north field, a man’s home, your land. Taking the punk alive implies (in some degree) taking him away from the site, i.e. to prison. (I did not choose the examples to highlight that aspect of things: these were just the first ones that came to hand.) The NYPD and “couldn’t do it†examples do not particularly call attention to the place, other than by the phrase itself, and in the golf club example the shooting is probably not even envisioned as happening there at the club.
Here’s one that pretty clearly means “at the place where shooter and shootee are interactingâ€, i.e. in a photography studio or other purposely set up place, and not “upon (first) sight†or “anytime you see themâ€:
Is there a way to give a customer a free 4×6 print on zenfolio? Basically you shoot them onsite. But, of course you take more poses
There are enough of these that it seems pretty certain to be a live one, for some people at least.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2019-01-04 11:59:06)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
Offline
Just found this . Liked the description by the puzzled English learner: “both seem to make sense. The first one means kill the troll when you see it (i.e. immediately), and the second one means kill the troll right where the troll is standing, on its site (i.e. immediately). ¶ Which one is the correct version and which one is the eggcorn?â€
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
Offline
My daughter suggests that site-reading (which is out there in its millions) can work very similarly.
.
Jorkel had warned us of this, back in 2009 :
I think your cite/sight example is a legitimate eggcorn. I also think there are plenty of legitimate eggcorns derived from sight/site … particularly when preceding unseen.
.
It’s fascinating that this triple homophone possesses at least two distinct eggcorns.
Yes. (And more than just two.)
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2019-01-03 17:43:21)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
Offline
Some of the instances may really mean “on site,” but most, I suspect, are catalyzed by “on sight.” Eggcorn, I say.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
Offline