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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Not really an eggcorn, but it seems the increasing tendency to use “genius” in a way that makes it sound like an adjective (e.g. “That is genius!”) has led people to confuse it with “ingenious”. Perhaps this is partly because people assume any adjective ending with “us” is spelt “ous”?
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“Genious” might actually qualify as an eggcorn of “genius” based on the way you have argued it: You actually made two very strong points in that regard. Well done! The only qualm that I would have is whether “genius” and “ingenious” share too common an etymology. With any luck, someone with more knowledge on this subject might come by to say whether these two words reached English by two different routes from the same Latin progenitor … that’s my suspicion. (Personally, I’m not too concerned about the etymology element: the usages I have found point pretty strongly to an eggcorn).
Google hits on May 12, 2007:
258,000 “are a genius”
12,800 “are genious”—eggcorn.
The only other missing element is the citings…
Comments for My RantSpotHi Amir i am a big fan of you, you are genious you are smart you are handsome i love your Rang de basanti movie in this movie you are still looking very …
patil.wordpress.com/comments/feed/ – 13k – Cached – Similar pages
Wolfmother To Keep It Heavy Rock On Next Album? | News @ Ultimate …They are genious, even if they copy a lot of styles from led zep POSTED: 02/05/2007 – 02:17 pm / quote | · guitarshark2099 : ...
www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/video_news … album.html – 47k – Cached – Similar pages
Comments on: Weird FashionThe first pic (and the other with the same style), are genious creations from the Paris based label Undercover. Very underground and intelligent. ...
www.hemmy.net/2006/08/27/weird-fashion/feed/ – 11k – Cached – Similar pages
American Idol Sucks – ForumsI think the producers of AI are genious, instead of talent agents traveling all over searching for new talent this show brings the potentials to them! ...
www.pleasedrivethrough.com/forums/index … topic=1577 – 100k – Cached – Similar pages
Internet Explorer Inside Ms-Access forms? – AccessOh my God you are genious!!! Before it was Acrobat reader and now it’s a lot more interesting! Why do not simply open the respective hyperlink in a separate …
www.thescripts.com/forum/thread541891.html – 35k – Cached – Similar pages
Last edited by jorkel (2007-05-12 07:57:11)
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As an aside, I have noticed that many Mandarin speakers have difficulty inserting indefinite articles into their English constructions. So, if the intended phrase is “you are a genius,” it might come out as “you are genius” and sound like “you are genious.” Even so, the examples I have provided in my previous post are all in written form, and seem to originate with speakers whose first language is English.
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