Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
I’ve seen this a couple of times recently, and wanted to throw it to the experts.
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“Whig” is certainly an error. An eggcorn, though? I don’t see any imagery transfer. “Whig,” in fact, has tended, in its many political incarnations, to refer to less exalted understandings of the right to govern.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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I think “big Whigs” has some eggcorn potential. People know of Whigs in political history even if they know little else about them. Besides, I can see how the imagery of “wigs” might be lost over time. Irrespective of imagery, I do find it odd that a less familiar word (Whig) replaces a more familiar word (wig). So perhaps it is indeed the imagery which explains it.
Over 700 google hits for “big whigs” including these:
Saudi Islamic school in Virginia says ‘Terror High’ label is…
... in the US and England occurred under identical circumstances when everything was shut off so some big whigs could play war games on the computers. ...
www.topix.com/forum/topstories/T1DJR3EL06QV223PS – 53k – Similar pages
http://www.topix.com/forum/topstories/T1DJR3EL06QV223PS
A rant on power, activism and ‘gay mafia’ · InterstateQ.com
They never get the chance to effect any good change or have any good influence on local happenings… because the big-whigs keep themselves big. ...
www.interstateq.com/archives/2339/ – 39k – Similar pages
http://www.interstateq.com/archives/2339/
Amazon.com: Ryan Cragun’s review of What Should I Do With My…
Add to this mix Bronson’s self-adoration about being invited to a conference of business big whigs where he encouraged all of the CEOs present to make sure …
www.amazon.com/review/R3HAA0W69OI73Q – 112k – Similar pages
Last edited by jorkel (2008-01-01 20:10:29)
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I don’t know. The term “wig” is so much more familiar than “whig” in North America that I find it unlikely, even if it is reduced in meaning to something like “politician,” that it could intrude into the phrase ‘big wig.”
Notice how easy it is to replace “w” with “wh” after a laryngeal plosive such as “g” or “k.” The blast of blocked air gets to the lips almost before the lips can round and shape the “w” semivowel, producing a sound closer to the lesser-voiced “wh” (When I pronounce the name of the popular personal transporter, the Segway, I tend to say something close to “SEG-whey,” for example.). I suspect that people who write “big whig” are just writing what they hear.
Last edited by kem (2008-01-02 15:52:55)
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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Reading this, I naturally began to hope against hope that somebody, somewhere, has written about either “The Wig Ascendancy” or the “Wig Interpretation of History.” Thank you, Stanford (!) Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
“In his influential book, The Wig Interpretation of History, Herbert Butterfield (1931) made a strong case against the “Wiggish†view that history involves progressive evolution toward where we are now.”
If any editor at Stanford picks up on this post, there will be hell toupee. . .
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Kem—I think you probably mean “velar plosive” for “laryngeal plosive.” Otherwise, I don’t have an opinion on this, but I think I’d be willing to support the Wig Interpretation of History.
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I once thought the Whigs were a stuffy, stuck up political party. I remember being surprised to learn, once I finally got to that chapter of American History, that they were founded by a man known for his ability to get people to compromise and agree.
I think it was the sound and spelling of the name. So “big Whig” would make sense to me, if I didn’t already know the term “bigwig.” And I’d take the sense of the term from its context.
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Indeed, velar or uvular plosive. Not a good idea to talk phonetics around this crowd. I tend to get the rug pulled out from over me.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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The word whig is so familiar with wig, it make me think about that many people are now have a wig on their head! Some wear wigs to deal with hair loss problems and others wear wigs for fashion.
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I’d forgotten, or missed, this discussion. Fishbait (are you still out there?) I must congratulate you on that truly execrable pun —one of the worst we’ve had on this site, and we’ve had some bad ones!
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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