Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
One of my former co-workers said this. I would put it in the same category as “free reign” instead of “free rein”—i.e., expressions that people mis-hear because they aren’t familiar with old-fashioned or rural terminology. If you’ve never spent time using a hoe, you don’t realize that some rows (in the field or the garden) are harder to deal with than others. Likewise, if you’ve never let your horse find his own way home, you won’t understand the term “free rein” (and “free reign” just about makes sense).
Added later: Oops! I see that this one is already in the database. I used this site’s Search feature (looking for “hard road to hoe”) before posting this, and it turned up nothing (and still turns up nothing). Is there any way to delete this thread?
Last edited by Carol the Dabbler (2007-05-21 00:50:54)
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Don’t worry too much about the duplication needing deletion. There are a lot of postings of that nature, and sometimes someone adds new insight with an explanation. By the way, you can also check this forum for duplication by clicking on “Search” on the red menu bar above, then entering a keyword.
One variation in the forum that I liked a lot was “A tough road to hold”...
A tough road to hold by SimonW11 Contribute! 0 2006-11-19 19:37:46 by SimonW11
What’s particularly nice about it is that it required not one, but two word modifications.
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Thanks, jorkel.
So this site’s Search function works only with single words? I was typing in the entire phrase, which may explain why nothing came up, even though the phrase does occur in a database entry. I see that the actual search page does specify that it’s only a word search (with some optional boolians), but I was using the Search box/button on the Home page.
I have no idea what kind of forum software this site is based on, but perhaps it would be possible for one of the administrators to add a warning to the effect that you can’t search for phrases, right by the search box/button on the Home page (and any other pages that may have the quickie Search box/button). That might cut down considerably on duplications.
Last edited by Carol the Dabbler (2007-05-21 16:06:59)
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