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Chris -- 2018-04-11

#1 2008-07-15 22:37:59

Ntsimp
Member
From: Utah
Registered: 2007-11-27
Posts: 10

carry favor << curry favor

Because everyone knows “curry” is a noun, not a verb.

“Carry favor” gets some false positives, but “carry favor with” gets 456 Google hits, and “carry favour with” 821, which look pretty genuine.

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#2 2008-07-16 00:18:26

kem
Eggcornista
From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2007-08-28
Posts: 2851

Re: carry favor << curry favor

We’ve had a couple o posts on “curry flavor:”

http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/forum/view … hp?id=1631
http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/forum/view … hp?id=2641

This is the first mention, I think, of “carry favor.” Seems like it might be an eggcorn.


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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#3 2008-07-17 10:36:40

Ntsimp
Member
From: Utah
Registered: 2007-11-27
Posts: 10

Re: carry favor << curry favor

I can’t find it listed as a standard variant in any dictionary, but people have been making
this particular reshaping for a while.

Here it is in a 1799 book at Google Books.

This 1912 New York Times article uses it, oddly enough, in a story about horse-racing.
I would have thought the word “curry” would be better known in that context.

Finally, here’s another Google Books one, from a 2003 book.

So it’s made its way into print a number of times, and I guess some copyeditors see nothing wrong with it.

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#4 2013-03-12 10:47:23

kem
Eggcornista
From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2007-08-28
Posts: 2851

Re: carry favor << curry favor

“Courage favor” for “curry favor” may also be possible. I can’t find an example on the web, though, that isn’t in a transcript. The expanded “encourage favour,” however, does serve as an occasional replacement for “curry favor.”

Magazine interview with Sinéad O’Connor: “I can’t start living my life for the media or to encourage favor with everybody.”

Game instructions: “You may build a large army and encourage favor with the generals by paying them well (perhaps even the occasional bri…err… bonus).”

Web fiction: “ I have transcended the need for wealth and power by donating my savings to the Mahariji’s trust and don’t feel the need to encourage favour with my superiors.”


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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