Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Heard in a conversation between neighbors:
“Those molds are tearing up my lawn.” and “How do I get rid of these molds?”
Molds is an eggcorn for moles because it is used in place of the offending animal and cleverly refers to the visible trail or “mold” that it digs out through the grass. Very economical use of language.
Note: It was verbally confirmed that in using “molds”, the neighbor was indeed referring to the animal and not its trail.
Region: Spoken by 2 native Michiganians (Midwest).
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The eggcorn is strongest if the utterer is refering strictly to the trails (which might indeed look like molds). [Or perhaps I’m thinking about the near-surface trails of voles rather than moles]. Once the utterer starts refering to the animal as a “mold,” I find it a little less credible. Others may disagree.
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Jorkel,
I’m confused on the imagery; it’s there but not directly related to the parent word. In another post, you state:
“Eggcorns require an imagery that is distinct from the parent word.”
So, wouldn’t the eggcorn be less credible if mold referred directly back to the trail? Anyone else have some thought on this?
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Hi Brooksie99,
I only recently started using the words “parent usage” without anticipating that it might be misconstrued. I intended the parent word in this case to be “mole” and the alleged eggcorn word to be “mold.” (I’m not sure if that’s what you were asking).
To expound further… The parent usage might be “I’ve got moles in my backyard” which refers to little animals burrowing beneath the surface. If someone were to misconstrue that usage, and later see tracks in their own backyard, they might generate an eggcorn usage “I’ve got molds in my backyard” because they thought the usage pertained to the tracks (molds) rather than some animal (moles) that created them.
In my previous post I was mainly suggesting that if a person were to refer to the animals that made the trails as “molds,” then I would be less prone to believe the eggcorn. Again, I could drop this position with a strong enough argument to the contrary.
Perhaps the best way forward here is to provide the clearest explanation of the eggcorn imagery as you understand it. (I’m only interjecting my own guess at the imagery).
Last edited by jorkel (2007-10-28 11:24:58)
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Maybe they’re calling the animal a mold because it “molds” tunnels. Unfortunately, this one’s very difficult to isolate on a google search. The closest I could come to was using “mold hill” in hopes of finding eggcorns about moles building mole hills. What I got was this:
Not to make a mountain out of a mold hill but consider this: >> >> Bob posted a 14X difference. >> I ran the code on my monster pc – the posted code showed …
www.devnewsgroups.net/group/microsoft.p … ic840.aspx – 20k –
So, it appears that Eric is making a mountain out of a mold hill, trying to reword the entire interface. :) tanstaafl, is that indeed, what you were talking …
forums.passwordmaker.org/index.php?action=post;topic=247.0;num_replies=15 – 61k –
So, while you see that “mold hill” is certainly used, it’s only in the context of the saying “making mountains out of mole hills”. This presents a problem in that the utterers could be eggcorning while being completely oblivious to the animal origin, i.e., they could be thinking of a mountain vs. a small “mold”ed model of a hill. Or even, yuck, a hill made out of mold. Also, typos cannot be ruled out, seeing how “d” is adjacent to “e” on the keyboard.
So, I’m not so sure if I’m helping out here or not. I’m suprised to hear that anyone would utter “mold” for “mole”, but hey, that’s most of the entertainment value of the whole pusuit, right? Perhaps another member can take the baton and make another lap or two with this.
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When I look up ‘mould’ (‘mold’ directs me there) in my Shorter Oxford Dictionary the first entry specifies, “Loose, broken, or friable earth; hence, the surface soil, which is easily broken up.” There is also the suggestion, elsewhere, that the word ‘mole’ is derived from ‘mouldwarp’ which means ‘earth-thrower.’
I suspect a ‘mold-hill’ is no more than a little hill of loose earth. The following citation is from 1617…
by Shuttleworth family, John Harland – 1857 – Prices
3d.; for hedge-making and scaling [scattering and levelling] of mould-hills at Hebblethwaite 20s.; 1619, received for oxen taken in the summer grass at …
books.google.com/books?id=4Gk9AAAAIAAJ…
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Excellent investigation, Peter. I had no idea about these common origins. Is it then less or more likely an eggcorn? For mold hill, pehaps not, but for mold(the animal), maybe so? It seems your info could back up the animal imagery Joe was talking about. Also, in the UK, are people cognizant of the sense of “mould” meaning loose soil? I’m fairly sure that in the states we are not. If I’m wrong, fellow Yanks please chime in.
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Matt, the only folk in the UK likely to be familiar with this sense of the word ‘mould’ are keen gardeners and makers of compost. I have a vague recollection that moles are said to smell unpleasant, and a clear recollection that they taste even more unpleasant, and wonder whether there could possibly be any connection to the word mouldy (or musty/fusty/foisty, which have much the same meaning.)
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Okay, Peter, how do you know that moles taste unpleasant? Was it by mistake? On a dare? Or, some rare indigenous cuisine? I’ll confess, not that it would surprise anyone due to my locale, that, yes, I did in fact eat an armadillo once. Tasted kind of like chicken (why in the hell don’t people just eat chicken?). Anyway, perhaps the most surprising thing is that it was just as shocking to my fellow Texans. Really, we don’t do that sort of thing as commonly as others might suspect. I mean, what were you thinking? This is Texas, not Louisiana!....excuse me while I laugh at my own joke…
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All I can really share is that it was a verbal exchange and that it was confirmed that the speaker was referring to the foul tasting creature, not its life work. I’ve never seen or heard a precedent for this in the Midwest.
Interesting British trace…thanks.
Could anyone explain the imagery rule? I’m not clear on that one.
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No rule, Brooksie99, it’s just that in the classical eggcorn creation model, the original word is understood by the eggcorner to have been a different word, a word that still makes sense in the original context but usually with a remarkably different image. A good example is “fur tree” for “fir tree”, where the original speaker and the eggcorner both agree that it’s the same tree, only the eggcorner is having an image of the word referring to the bountiful, soft needles being like fur. Another example could be “it donged on me” for “it dawned on me”. The original image being that of an enlightenment akin to the rising of the sun making all things clear. The eggcorn image being that of understanding coming like the ringing of a bell or gong. I think it’s in that sense that Joe was saying that the eggcorn word would most likely come from the parent(original) word, but with an imagery that was different. I’m assuming he was trying to make a distinction from words that may have been submitted as an eggcorn, but the imagery was NOT different from that of the “parent” word. Is that right, Joe?
In your example of molds, I think the tunnels being interesting for imagery justification are nonetheless a step away from the “parent” word and imagery, if indeed we are trying to find an eggcorn concerning our small furry animal, not his tunnels. Funny thing is, as Peter pointed out, the little creature may have gotten his name from the tunnels he digs, which in turn could help justify an eggcorn from the animal, only who knows that about a mole while eggcorning? I think the most productive pursuit would be to continue to try to understand what this connection between mold and mole might be. Can you ask the person who told you why they call them molds? I did that with my step-mother when she uttered “ramsack” for “ransack” and it went a long way towards explaining the imagery and the connection between the two. By all means, don’t get discouraged or confused, keep searching for eggcorns! If “mold” does indeed prove to be one, it’ll be a doozie!
Last edited by booboo (2007-10-28 19:18:38)
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Just to clarify – I’ve never munched any subterranean mammals, what I meant was that I could clearly recollect where I’d read about moles tasting extremely unpleasant. Frank Buckland, Queen Victoria’s first Inspector of Fisheries tried to taste as many animals as possible and even dug up and sampled a panther which had died at London Zoo while Frank had been on holiday. When a man like that tells me nothing tastes worse than a mole, I’m prepared to accept it without demur.
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I concur with your assessment, Peter, and am relieved that the notion of your varmint consumption was merely a bullet to be dodged. However, now I find myself and armadillo flushed out into the open, naked before all….
What?..What? No, nothing going on here. Let’s move along. Show’s over, let’s go!
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