Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Here is a new eggcorn:
When we set out that morning it didn’t ogre well….
I have just registered and have laughed several times already. Thanks for your collation (!) by the way what is the difference between a malapropism and an eggcorn?
Best Wishes
Mary
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Welcome to the collation!
I think all eggcorns are malapropisms, but not all malapropisms are eggcorns. A true eggcorn is a substitution or reshaping that makes sense in its own terms. Since an “acorn” is the seed of an oak, and eggs have to do with reproduction, and acorns are rather egg-shaped. . . . you see where I’m going. Similarly, “moral perpitude,” to take a recent example that made me laugh. A “perp” is a criminal, and therefore surely suffers from moral turpitude. And for anyone who doesn’t know Latin, “turpitude” is a mystery, since it doesn’t seem to have any cognates in English that I can think of. “Moral turpentine,” on the other hand, would not be an eggcorn, although it’s a common play on words (Google it.) No one could imagine that moral turpitude has anything to do with turpentine.
By this standard, “ogre” looks more like a simple misspelling, or a mishearing. It’s obviously helped out by the general unfamiliarity of the word “augur.” It’s not an eggcorn because it is unlikely that the writer was really thinking of “ogres.”
But I love it anyway. . .
David F.
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I think the critical factor that distinguishes an eggcorn from a malapropism is: believable imagery.
Malapropisms are typically funny because the user doesn’t realize a word is being used incorrectly, so the literal interpretation of the phrase is often ludicrous.
By contrast, eggcorns are close-sounding offshoots of other phrases where the utterer naively believes the imagery embodied in the offshoot to be the correct imagery AND the offshoot indeed makes sense on some level.
So, perhaps this is one litmus test: Does the phrase make sense?
Ask yourself whether a person would actually believe that an ogre is somehow involved when he uses the phrase “It doesn’t ogre well.” If your answer is “yes,” it’s an eggcorn. If your answer is “no,” it’s a malapropism.
Last edited by jorkel (2007-01-25 10:00:10)
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“Similarly, “moral perpitude,†to take a recent example that made me laugh…”
Glad to know someone else thought it qualifies as a gen-yoo-wine eggcorn. Maybe some day I’ll actually get one of my submissions into the database!
(bah… screwed up the quote)
Last edited by Craig C Clarke (2007-02-10 08:20:14)
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As it turns out, eggcorns probably all fall into the category of paronomasia (word play of the punning kind), a term I encountered years ago in a small, smarmy book titled, “The Superior Person’s Book of Words.” However, IMHO and from what I’ve observed here, eggcorns appear to be strictly misspelled or misspoken words, phrases, and/or idioms—“and tings of dis nature,” to quote Arnie Schwartzenegger—not so much word play as word misinterpretation.
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maddog_frenzy wrote:
As it turns out, eggcorns probably all fall into the category of paronomasia (word play of the punning kind), a term I encountered years ago in a small, smarmy book titled, “The Superior Person’s Book of Words.” However, IMHO and from what I’ve observed here, eggcorns appear to be strictly misspelled or misspoken words, phrases, and/or idioms—“and tings of dis nature,” to quote Arnie Schwartzenegger—not so much word play as word misinterpretation.
I have never heard that word before, but it sounds sort of like something that everyone in my family does – my Dad says it came from his father – we have a habit of always misusing words intentionally… like saying “roast beast,” or “read the destructions,” referring to the store “Home Despot,” etc.
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Eggcorns are accidental misusages that possess a self-consistent meaning that is different from the misheard original that begot them. They are not misspellings; they are not puns; they are not malapropisms; and, they are not intentional reshapings. In particular, if the utterer is aware of the wordplay, then it’s not an eggcorn.
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jorkel wrote:
Eggcorns are accidental misusages that possess a self-consistent meaning that is different from the misheard original that begot them. They are not misspellings; they are not puns; they are not malapropisms; and, they are not intentional reshapings. In particular, if the utterer is aware of the wordplay, then it’s not an eggcorn.
Now you’re just being pet antic. :D
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