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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
One that has been bugging me for years: ‘petrol blue’ when of course it should be ‘petrel blue’, the colour of the bird, the blue petrel.
Best,
Seaweed
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Welcome to the Eggcorn website, seaweed. That could very well be an eggcorn that you describe, but there needs to be a specific association with “petrol” that provides some sense to it. I imagine that if the utterers believe that a particular pigment involves petrol in it’s manufacture, then that’s one such association. Any other ideas?
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Hi, I would imagine it comes from here (I’ve also heard people refer to ‘paraffin blue’, meaning the same colour):
“Premium Kereosene
Premium Kereosene is most commonly known as blue or pink Paraffin. This is a more refined form of Regular Kerosene. It is used in environments where the exhaust emissions are not vented outside. As the cleaner form of Kerosene it can have positive benefits for older heating appliances and vapourising burners, particularly where there is a tendency to char up, but is more costly to produce and is thus more expensive to supply, than regular Kerosene.”
full article: http://www.rye-oil.ltd.uk/fuels.htm
As a child, I certainly remember watching TV commercials (in the UK) for Pink Paraffin. There was even a character called ‘The Pink Paraffin Man’, but I don’t remember whether he was an actor or a cartoon character.
Best,
Seaweed
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Hello seaweed. I’ve heard ‘petrol blue’ for many years, but until now had no reason to question it. My wife confirms it’s ‘petrel’ and she can’t believe I could have thought otherwise – a not unfamiliar situation and one which will certainly occur again. I have never seen a ‘blue petrel’ but from an early age have noted the rainbow colours of spilled/leaking petrol glimmering against the tarmac – blue tends to predominate, to my eye at least. I can’t remember ‘pink paraffin’ commercials, but ‘Esso Blue’ and its particularly evil little jingle will accompany me to the grave.
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If it’s any consolation after all these years, Peter, you are probably right and your wife is probably wrong. See the summary in the Wiktionary piece on petrol blue. The Wiktionary article is right—the OED only recognizes “petrol blue.” The huge N-gram database doesn’t even recognize “petrel blue” as a phrase. The Corpus of Global Web-Based English reports 9 instances of “petrol blue” and only one of “petrel blue.”
There is a bird, of course, known as the “blue petrel.” The bird’s name may have led people to think that “petrol blue” was “petrel blue.”
Last edited by kem (2014-12-27 13:15:50)
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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