Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
In seeking eggcornish usage I checked ‘taught muscles’ and ‘nice and taught’, the first relating to physical training and the second mainly to sails and tents. I suppose a well-trained muscle which is taut has been taught to be taut. And tents and sails which obediently stretch and fill as they should, are nudged, encouraged and ‘taught’ to do so. Or it’s just a spelling error.
Tight, taught muscles will limit the movement in the joint and hence reduce the possibility of pain. This is called, protective co-contraction. ...
www.orofacialaide.com/tmj.htm – 10k – Cached
His taught muscles were wrapped tightly to his bones, with his body devoid of any excess fat. It was as if someone took an anatomy book and used modeling …
www.teamsheeper.com/teams/menlomasters/ library/newsletters/0306.html – 34k – Cached
Use your canvas pliers to re-stretch the canvas nice and taught, without making it too loose or too tight, and finally secure it permanently with another …
www.passionforpaint.com/PaintingSurfaces.html – 21k – Cached
When looking at your dog from the side, is his stomach nice and taught? When looking at him from above, can you see your dog’s waist behind his ribs? ...
www.dogland.co.uk/ExerciseForAllAges.html – 28k – Cached
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or could it be that kids remember being tense when they are taught?
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This is related somewhat to one I posted, taut vs. taunt, which I have heard frequently. http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/forum/view … hp?id=2059
Here are some more good examples of people spelling taut as “taught.”
knitty.comAt end of row, pull yarn taught, make knot in end and pass knot through to inside of blanket. Clip yarn, and pull ends to inside. For French knot …
www.knitty.com/issuesummer05/PATTwildstripes.html – 31k – Cached – Similar pages
LiMPETS: Rocky Intertidal Monitoring – How to Make a QuadratTie knot, pull tight through first hole, then continue to string following the arrows. Pull string taught, tie knot, then glue or burn knots at both ends. ...
limpetsmonitoring.org/ri_equip_build.php – 8k – Cached – Similar pages
Fabric Covered Memo Board | DoItYourself.comPull fabric taught and press in place. Turn fabric edges under approx. ... Begin stapling ribbon at top center of board; pull ribbon taught diagonally to …
www.doityourself.com/stry/memoboard – 32k – Cached – Similar pages
It seems at face value to be just a misspelling (substituting a familiar spelling for an unfamiliar one), but I can see people reasoning it this way: “TIGHT is t-i-g-h-t, so TAUT must be a related word and thus spelled similarly: t-a-u-g-h-t.”
Feeling quite combobulated.
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“Taught” was a common spelling for “taut,” at least until the twentieth century. See, for example, this 1827 work:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10026/10 … 0026-h.htm
It is likely that some of these modern taut/taught switches are spelling reversions or dialectical spelling retentions. This raises the bar of evidence: to prove eggcornicity, we would have to catch someone in the act (i.e., someone giving an etymological explanation that connects the past participle of teach with a context that requires taut).
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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