Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2025-05-10
Obvious yet common mistake. Is this a true eggcorn?
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I don’t think so—I think one is English, the other is French.
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The word is definitely French-derived, as many English words are. Try to find “in route” in an unabridged English dictionary. It does not exist. Your reply only furthers my point, TootsNYC. Thanks!
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There was a similar posting here:
En Route—> On Route by CopywriterBean Contribute! 0 2006-10-24 03:45:56 by CopywriterBean
But I would caution that foreign words that become common English usage are a bit problematic as far as eggcornicity is concerned. If the words in the two languages share a common etymology, then there really isn’t much of an alteration of imagery involved.
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I would say that “on route” is an acceptable Anglicisation, but “in route” is a corruption.I vote oeufcorn
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There’s a fairly lengthy Database article on this topic here: http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/601/on-in/
Nevertheless, I agree with Jorkel—this seems to me a calque rather than an eggcorn.
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