Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2025-05-10
can this word qualify as eggcorn !
grammar in place of grammer ?
4,640,000 ghits !
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Probably not an eggcorn. (Although it’s impossible to assess exactly what it is without giving the context of its usage). I’m not familiar with “grammer” being a word, so it might not be anything other than a misspelling of “grammar.” If “grammer” were a word, then the substitution of “grammar” might be a malapropism—whereby the utterer does not understand the definition of the word he has misused. Next up from there is the pun designation where the utterer knows the definition of both words and consciously chooses the wrong one for amusement. Finally, the eggcorn designation is reserved for situations where the utterer unknowingly creates a new usage which makes perfect sense, but is different from a prototype which he has heard but has not fully comprehended.
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The only use of “grammer” that I know of is in reference to the star of Frasier, Kelsey Grammer. Now, if Kelsey were wont to consistently twist the “rules” of English in a particular way, that might be known as “Kelsey Grammar,” which would be a nice eggcorn. But that’s all hypothetical.
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