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
This might be an eggcorn, or it might be a malapropism. I’m not totally convinced that people are actively analyzing ‘bullwork’ as ‘bull’ + ‘work’ when they use it inappropriately as in examples (1) and (2) below. An example of a correct use of ‘bullwork’, which means ‘drudgery’, is given in (3).
(1) “As the bible says ‘the Church is the pillar and bullwork of the truth’” Found on <a href=”http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061214233014AA6XnXq&show=7”>this</a> yahoo answers page.
(2) ”[All India Services (Conduct) rules] form the bullwork of the executive power of the Union and the States and also form the instrumentality through which such powers have to be exercised” From a <a href=”http://www.austlii.edu.au/~andrew/CommonLII/INSC/1987/282.html”>description of a case</a> hosted by the Australian Legal Information Institute.
(3) “She also shows us the brawn as well as the brains – the thousands and thousands of laborers who actually did the bullwork: ...” From an amazon.com <a href=”http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wonders-Industrial-World-Deborah-Cadbury/dp/0007163053”>user review</a> of The Seven Wonders of the Industrial World by Deborah Cadbury.
Last edited by personshaped (2007-01-08 23:41:44)
Offline