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Chris -- 2025-05-10
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)
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