Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Original: “swings and roundabouts”, as in “it’s swings and roundabouts”, meaning “it has advantages and disadvantages”. 148k ghits.
Eggcorn: “swings in roundabouts”, as in “it swings in roundabouts”, meaning exactly the same… Only 197 ghits. However, all are clearly a reinterpretation of the phrase, where “swing” has become a verb. The subject is no longer like “swings and roundabouts”, but actually swings itself, in a roundabout way, between good and bad. There’s more of a feeling of temporal change, where the subject shifts over time: see this example on the first page of ghits:
http://www.sportnetwork.net/boards/read … 99&sid=175
“rugby swings in roundabouts and the way things are going the 2 sides may only be 1 league apart next year!”
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