Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
Google counts on April 24, 2007
436,000 “Deep in my heart”
1730 “Deep in my hearth”
Analysis by Joe Krozel
By one definition, a “hearth” is the bottom of a furnace/fireplace. “Hearth” also refers to one’s home or family life—a very heartwarming notion indeed. Given it’s association with a warm place, one would not be surprised to find “hearth” as an eggcorn substitution for “heart” wherever the latter might be used to convey warmth.
Examples:
Enjoying PythonI do not believe, deep in my hearth, that someone is able to be lousy on so many “unimportant” details, and be dependably perfect when the time comes to be. ...
pinard.progiciels-bpi.ca/opinions/python.html – 53k – Cached – Similar pages
Western Chan Fellowship – Welsh WinterDeep in my hearth now frosty fire tongues leap at the coming night. small chan calligraphy. © Western Chan Fellowship, UK, 1993 – 1996. ...
www.westernchanfellowship.org/welsh-winter.html – 14k – Cached – Similar pages
Copyright 1996 by Bristol Chan Group, UK, uploaded with permission …Deep in my hearth now frosty fire tongues leap at the coming night. John Crook 1993-1996 RETREAT REPORT We are grateful to retreat participants for writing …
www.westernchanfellowship.org/fileadmin … /ncf13.txt – 122k – Cached – Similar pages
5.: 11/01/2005 – 12/01/2005… dear bloglosphere, that it took a change of cities to break my silence with you. but deep in my hearth i knew it was going to happen. even if my fingers …
eeio.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_archive.html – 60k – Cached – Similar pages
www.myspace.com/xarexApr 13 2007 5:43P YOUR SPECIAL I KNOW DEEP IN MY HEARTH… www.hostdrjack.com · Chris on a Plane, Apr 13 2007 10:44A Thanks a lot for the message, man! ...
profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=3372561 – 167k – Apr 23, 2007 – Cached – Similar pages
FToI: Waking DreamsMaybe deep in my hearth I acknowledge that. But it doesn’t help me feel less guilty. I still think, there should be a way that we could make things better. ...
freethoughts.org/archives/000180.php – 34k – Cached – Similar pages
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THe “h” key is pretty close to the “t” on a QWERTY keyboard. Except for the one poem that begins “Welsh Winter Deep,” I doubt that any of the references you cite are anything other than a typo.
(The same is probably true of the “to name a view” post on the main page, I should add.)
Most people learned the expression “deep in my heart” before they knew what a hearth was. It seems unlikely, then, that they would eggcorn this expression. The poem, of course, may well be engaging in word play.
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I don’t think it’s a typo at all. First, there’s too great a stretch between the “t” and the “h” on a keyboard, and second, there are sightings where the same usage appears twice. For instance:
My calm sky: 01/2005But not now… you will be in my hearth forever. You are my first girl… my imzadi. ... You are free I will keep a place in my hearth for you. ...
calmsky.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_archive.html – 55k – Apr 23, 2007 – Cached – Similar pages
Sisters « Dear Elena In my hearth, she was my daughter from the moment I received a phone call, before we even had seen her, and in my hearth, she’ll be forever, ...
dearelena.wordpress.com/2006/02/25/sisters/ – 25k – Cached – Similar pages
Maleni7’s profile… some isshues in my life but Jesus Christ changed me tottaly in my hearth! ... If you belive in your hearth that He is a saviour and confess with your …
www.mp3.com/users/maleni7/profile.php – 34k – Cached – Similar pages
globeandmail.com: Quebec Liberals barely stave off ADQ – CommentsYou dont talk about why we pay more taxes, why Afgan, why submarine! You have it in your hearth. Like I have Quebec in my hearth for many other reason. ...
www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/R … ional/home – 916k – Cached – Similar pages
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Many of the unconventional usages of “hearth” seem to occur among two groups:
1. Non-native speakers of English.
I identified quite a few where the person’s first language is Spanish, and it just might be an artifact of how they translate words. But, I don’t have a developed theory on this.
2. Religious people.
The word “hearth” (in the sense of “family life”) occurs quite a bit in religious teaching. And I would go so far as to state that it probably works it’s way into conversation in place of the word “heart.” Do subliminal substitutions qualify as eggcorns? I’ll wait for someone with linguistic training to make the determination on that one.
Aside from the two groups mentioned above, there are numerous other stray usages of “hearth” in place of “heart.” It could be that the “th” ending is simply preferred on a subliminal level because it is softer and the corresponding word seems to convey a greater warmth in context. This just might be enough for eggcorn status.
Last edited by jorkel (2007-04-25 12:50:47)
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I admire tannerpittman’s scepticism and am equally puzzled by “to name a view” which I hadn’t realised had somehow filtered into the database (only the second eggcorn, I think, to gain this distinction since I first encountered this site) but the ‘y’ key is even closer than the ‘h’ key, yet “deep in my hearty” manages only 114 ghits against “deep in my hearth”’s 1730.
In Irish English, ‘hearth’ could well sound like ‘heart’ and such Irish English speakers are often well aware of their deviation from some of the other English variants, and may well ‘hyper-correct’, resulting in ‘heart’ sounding as ‘hearth’. A thousand examples of such usage hover just out of reach, so I may have to return to this later…
Jorkel – perhaps we need something in ‘Slips, Innovations etc’ on subliminal substitutions, which we could keep returning to as information and insights accrue?
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Good advice Peter. Perhaps I need to add a big-picture comment in the “Slips, Innovations,...” section when I am inspired enough to draw a conclusion about all the subliminal substitution I keep finding. For now, I’m not sure exactly what I haven’t already said. But I am drifting toward adding something about the meme concept. (“Meme” is just a fancy word for an “infectious idea” passing from one person to the next).
In the present example, people attend their religious teachings and periodically hear the word “hearth.” Since it’s a softer word that “heart,” and it gives people a warm fuzzy feeling, it becomes infectious and they adopt it into their language usage—subconsciously, mind you—either in appropriate or, dare I say, eggcornish ways.
I guess I’m still on the fence over whether these subliiminal substitutions are eggcorns or not.
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