Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
You are not logged in.
Registrations are currently closed because of a technical problem. Please send email to
The forum administrator reserves the right to request users to plausibly demonstrate that they are real people with an interest in the topic of eggcorns. Otherwise they may be removed with no further justification. Likewise, accounts that have not been used for posting may be removed.
Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
This is a difficult potential eggcorn to investigate for 2 reasons: first, it’s been taken as the name of a heavy metal band (amazing how often that happens!) and, second, a lot of people think that each of Bush’s three rogue states is an axis unto itself. So, when referring to the states collectively, they use the plural ‘axes.’ But there seem to be some real substitutions, evoking a blended image of Lizzy Borden and Al Qaeda. Examples:
Yesterday President Bush spoke of the “axes of evil”, the first time he has used the e-word in public since we arrived in Asia.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1833408.stm
Today, this is reminiscent of President Bush’s “axes of evil” declaration, and the politics may anger some…
www.amazon.com/review/R1YS7SKFFVX6RU
Spinoza refers to the “monstrous Turks;†George W. Bush speaks of “axes of evil.â€
lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/jgcg/2007/sp07/jgcg-sp07-hamblet.htm
Offline
That’s one dilly of a pickle. Inconveniently, the plurals of “axis” and “axe” are spelled identically. And for most speakers the pronunciation of “axis” and “axes” probably doesn’t differ enough to stand out in connected casual speech.
This could equally be (1) a misspelling, (2) a pluralization of the intended “axis”, or (3) a reshaping based on “axe” and thus an eggcorn.
I would suggest looking for axe-related imagery, such as “chopping freedom” or some such, in association with “axes of evil.” This will take more than a simple co-location search, such as using quotation marks in Google. Maybe a Lexis-Nexis or Google News search for articles containing “axes of evil” AND “chop” or some other axe-imagery would be instructive? But then, edited news texts may be less likely than more casual texts to include novel reshapings.
Offline
I think it’s an eggcorn.
“Onelook.com” offers the following pertinent definition of “axis”;
noun: in World War II the alliance of Germany and Italy in 1936 which later included Japan and other nations
....it is a singular noun defining a group of parties joined together to promote their ideology. Of course, there could be other groups promoting their interests, ergo “axes”, but this definition is rarely employed, especially in the context of President Bush’s speech concerning North Korea, Iran and Iraq comprising said “axis”. I conducted a search with “axes of evil” and “korea” as search terms. I specifically excluded terms such as “music” , “songs”, etc, to get rid of results pertainting to the band. As the following quotes reveal, there appears to be a confusion in the minds of the writers concerning Bush’s “axis”. It is referred to as “an axes”, or, indirectly as “axes” even though refering to Bush’s singular group:
Carter offers his thoughts – The Stanford Daily OnlineThe two nations should be treated completely separately. ... pretty good relationships with those countries, which we have condemned as an “Axes of Evil. ...
www.stanforddaily.com/article/2002/5/7/ … isThoughts – 23k
currently in South Korea, the mood of nation is that North Korea is goign …. when bush first said axes of evil he had included nk because of nucular and …
www.torilmud.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t … f58b299f22 – 92k – Cached – Similar pages
Okay, so they identified three big meanies, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. .... 10. Funny how Rummy has cozied up to 2 of the “axes of evil” ...
www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/d … 32×2873896 – 61k – Cached – Similar pages
I do not recall Bush listing China on this “axes of evil” list. ... we employ their services when to help control North Korea and now that Hong Kong is part …
www.volconvo.com/forums/politics-govern … omply.html – 60k –
I think it obvious that “axes” is substituted for “axis” in that an axe is a weapon of war and aggression in this context. The imagery of this is substitued for “axis” due to the fact that axis is comparitively rare and that, if several nations bore an axe of aggression, they would be “axes of evil”.
Offline
booboo wrote:
It is referred to as “an axes”, or, indirectly as “axes” even though refering to Bush’s singular group:
The construction “an axes” seems like a misspelling. None of booboo’s examples seem obviously to relate to an axe, or any other clear image.
One example seems to be a plural.
Okay, so they identified three big meanies, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. .... 10. Funny how Rummy has cozied up to 2 of the “axes of evil†...
www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/d … 32×2873896 – 61k – Cached – Similar pages
The others might be eggcorns or eggcorn-like reshapings, or might be misspellings. As klakritz suggests, this is difficult to investigate.
Offline
Right, figured I’d better put up or shut up, so I’ve done the LexisNexis search I suggested earlier.
I searched LexisNexis Academic using the search term {“axes of evil” AND (wood OR chop OR cut OR smash)}. The search returned 33 hits (25 unique). Of those 33, most are either jokes (12/33), proper names (11/33), or plurals or misspellings of “axis” (9/33). One, however, may actually be an eggcorn.
The largest number in the sample are jokes, punning on the term “axis of evil”. Most of these also play on axe or axing (firing, sacking). Most of these are in headlines or subheads.
“Axes of evil Talking of bloodbaths, if you’ve just bought an axe from Asda and are planning to chop up some wood this weekend (well, you never know . . .), then don’t. Asda this week warned that one of the axes it has been selling lately has a little problem.”
The Guardian, June 17, 2006, Rupert Jones
Beware the axes of evil (headline of an article on firing (“axing”) football coaches)
Sunday Express, December 23, 2007, Harry Harris
The second largest group—even given the axe-related limiting terms—is references to the musical group noted earlier, or to a play called “Ali and the Axes of Evil.”
“It’s Axes of Evil with The Prawn and Drafus dishing out European electro. Sat, 11pm, L/B, 79 Wyndham St”
South China Morning Post,
March 9, 2006
“The Adventures of Ali and Ali and the Axes of Evil, presented by Teesri Duniya Theatre, at 4 p.m. at MAI”
The Gazette (Montreal), March 21, 2004
The results also show a number of pluralized, or possibly misspelled references to “axis of evil”—again slipping by the limiting terms. Most of these come from editorialists critical of the Bush administration; one (repeated in two or three stories) comes from a US official.
“It is the pretext they use to call their perceived enemies ‘axes of evil, dictators, despots, tyrants, extremists and rogue or failed states.’”
Africa News, March 6, 2007
”’There’s one dramatic difference between Iran and the other two axes of evil,’ Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage recently told the Los Angeles Times.”
Newsweek, March 3, 2003, Mark Hosenball
Finally, there is one occurrence that may well be the eggcorn klakritz suggested. Note the reference to “blunt axes.”
“Jolly good, he has only 2 more years to run! Let us hope his successor will be less preoccupied with chasing weapons of mass destruction phantoms, blunt ‘axes of evil’ and regime change exports like he has been doing.”
Africa News, May 9, 2006
As I say, this may well be the Lizzy Borden eggcorn. It may, however, be an intentional pun rather than an earnest reshaping, thus fitting into the “jokes” category.
This does suggest another way to look: a search for blunt, or sharp, “axes of evil.”
Offline