Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
Google counts on Nov 3, 2006
1,180,000 “stave off”
20,900 “starve off”— eggcorn in many contexts.
Analysis by Joe Krozel
To “stave off” means to fend off potentiallly harmful things. (Perhaps someone could comment on whether this is linked to the definition of stave as the wooden strips of, say, a barrel or a ship). Since stave is somewhat obscure to the average person, a more tangible imagery might be “starve off.” There seems to be a spectrum of usage for “starve off” ranging from appropriate, to borderline, to genuinely eggcornish.
Examples:
Federal Reserve Slashes U.S. Rates to Stave off RecessionThe Federal Reserve unexpectedly cut U.S. interest rates by a half point percentage on Wednesday in an effort to starve off a looming economic recession. ...
english.people.com.cn/english/200104/22/eng20010422_68292.html – 17k – Cached – Similar pages
FlyerTalk Forums – Question to candidates: OMNIThat would be in line with other initiatives that have been tried not to limit members from the enjoyment to post in OMNI, but to starve off attempts by …
www.flyertalk.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-366345.html – 40k – Cached – Similar pages
Question of the Day » ChangeQ. I often hear we need to be “innovative†in order to starve off stagnation. What can we do stay ahead of the curve in order to be innovators in the sports …
www.theteliosgroup.com/qa/category/change/ – 25k – Cached – Similar pages
n-ary (consultancy): JDJ Editorials: We all need a week off in the SUNThe industry is still struggling to find its feet after the dot-bomb exploded, and desperately trying to starve off redundancies is the very company behind …
www.n-ary.com/java/editorial.cfm?AT_ID=72 – 11k – Cached – Similar pages
[Balls!] The Newsletter : READ THIS ONE!!!Oh, OK, here’s a link for you to starve off the boredom until next time. THE HUMILIATOR <http://www.scottpaulpresents.com/humiliator.html> (the …
www.mailinglists.ucl.ac.uk/pipermail/ju … 00034.html – 11k – Cached – Similar pages
Hawkesbury Race ClubRidden to perfection by Newcastle jockey Darryl McLellan Ruby Ransom $6 was able starve off a late challenge from the favourite Casa Del Royale $3.10 to …
racenet.com.au/hawkesbury/News.asp – 37k – Cached – Similar pages
Healthy Diet with Natural Diet Supplementsby Olympian Labs. Hoodia Gordonii has been used for generations by South African tribesmen to starve off hun… OurPrice: $18.53. Tonalin CLA. by Natrol …
www.herbsmd.com/store/diet-nutrition.asp – 104k – Cached – Similar pages
The Elections Haven’t Started in GeorgetownDevelopers here have gotten creative in order to starve off a local housing slump by development of condos and townhouses, in order to squeeze a few more …
blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/georgetown/archives/108582.asp – 44k – Cached – Similar pages
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Wow—nearly 21k hits; that’s a big one. And pretty convincing as an eggcorn, I’d say.
The OED indeed links “stave off” to the idea of holding off someone or something with a stick or staff; here’s its 6th entry for the verb “to stave”:
6. To drive off or beat with a staff or stave; esp. in to stave off, to beat off (a dog in Bear- or Bull- baiting; also transf. a human combatant); to keep back (a crowd). Now only arch.
When they say it’s archaic, they’re only referring to the literal sense of the phrase; in the next entry they discuss the familiar figurative sense.
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Well, the nice thing about spam—like the message I just deleted—is that it redirects the forum’s attention to worthy posts that probably haven’t been looked at in a while. Like this one by Jorkel. And just in case anyone was enthralled with the “Spam English” of the deleted message, I’ve saved the body of the text:
My Mother have been using about more products but for good. I take for about 4 weeks for me to start noticing a real difference I lost 20 lbs. I have been for almost a year now and have been able to maintain my weight without maintaining any kind of diet.
If the quote seems to attract more of the same, I’ll bag it.
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“Starve off” may have legitimate use – for example a large corporation may starve off the competition by undercutting prices thus depriving them of any income.
I thought staving off derived from using long staves to push attackers’ ladders from castle walls, or perhaps pirate ships to keep them from boarding.
Either way, the misuse of starve in the examples cited is definitely eggcornism.
Aside: the English meaning of “starve” derives as far as I know from the Germanic “storben” meaning to die. In older English texts people described as starving may be dying from illness, plague etc as much as from lack of food.
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will buy a ridiculous hat – Scott Adams (author of Dilbert)
Build a man a fire and he will be warm for a day; set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life – Terry Pratchett
http://blog.meteorit.co.uk
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