Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
Additionally, things routinely follow through the cracks with these folks. Sales that coulda, woulda and shoulda been made, aren’t.
absurda-ad-absurdum.blogspot.com
The following patch has been following through the cracks (repeatedly, I believe), which is a pitty since it also adds documentation
gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc-patches/2001-12/msg00349.html
Until that happens, the risk of other severely mentally ill inmates following through the cracks of our judiciary is unacceptably high.
www.democraticunderground.com/articles/ … stice.html
and unfortunately there is no doubt that there is probably a gem or two that has followed through the cracks, which is very scary
(reported by Google but doesn’t seem to be online any more.)
I heard somewhere (I think on BBC) that the few journalists who have gotten in, obtained visas by following through the cracks.
wareabouts.wordpress.com/2008/05/08/cal-perry-in-beirut/
The last example is particularly interesting: these people from the Lebanese government’s perspective apparently fell through the cracks, but from their own perspective they were actively seeking to get in, or following after getting in, through the cracks (i.e. between the the restrictions = floorboards).
The original isn’t particularly obscure or hard to understand, but as we know that doesn’t keep at least a few people from misanalyzing.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2008-07-23 12:24:18)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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True, falling through the cracks doesn’t seem particularly opaque. But perhaps there is a vertical/horizontal reorientation behind the fall/follow switch. If the crack is horizontal, the word “fell” should be transparent. But if the speaker thinks of the crack as being vertical, the word “fell” seems less apt.
I notice that “followed through the cracks” also shows up on a couple of sites. That the fall/followed switch should also happen in the simple past (fell/followed), where the words have a less similar sound, argues against it being a simple malapropism.
There are even more ghits for “fall through the tracks.” This could also be an eggcorn. Especially if the speakers are thinking of widely-spaced railroad tracks, or the gaps between railroad ties on sections of track that form bridges.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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Bet you’re right about the horizontal/vertical thing. Actually quite a few examples of “follow through the cracks†are apparently from video games where you need to follow somebody through cracks in the walls or something of the sort.
Yes, the examples (not many of them) with “followed†instead of “fell†make the eggcorning pretty secure.
There’s a whole mess of mixed up wordings here. I have the following all attested, and am thinking of adding them as another list of related bloopers to my website.
fall/slip between the cracks (through the floorboards?)
fall to the cracks
fall on the tracks
get lost in the cracks
tucked between the cracks
fall through the slats,
wash through the cracks
flip through the cracks
For me “fall between the tracks†is not so clear: I have heard “fall between two tracksâ€, which is pretty much synonymous with “fall between two stoolsâ€, but with the added implication that one should be solidly resting on both tracks, not falling in between them. (With the two stools one should presumably pick one to sit on and not try to sit on both.) “Falling through the tracksâ€, in consequence, works pretty well for me too, as at least potentially a valid metaphor instead of/besides an idiom blend/eggcorn. Since the tracks are not saliently 2-dimensional, the idea of falling “through” them in the sense of physically passing through at least one of them instead of between them, is not strong for me, as it would be with “fall through the floorboards”. “Fall through the slats” is sort of halfway between those two cases, for me. I tend to think of something crashing through, breaking several slats, but can also get the picture of something small falling between them. Slats, of course, often have a bigger space between them than you expect for floorboards.
Dang, this stuff gets complicated!
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2008-07-23 12:55:38)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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