Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
an infant which I sometimes dangled on my knee
(heard on radio)
I well remember being dangled on his knee in order “to ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross”. On one occasion he cried “You’ll be a rich man one day, Wully”.
lu.softxs.ch/mackay/Couples0/C52560.html
Preachers advised parents to start giving religious instruction when babies were still in their cradles, or were being dangled on their knees. ...
books.google.com.mx/books?isbn=1558320326
Hey,my baby is 6’4” and is built like a Mack Truck…can’t dangle him on my knee anymore. ...
www.myheritage.com.tr/member-112074732_1/mac
Oh, and we loved that insider tip about why the prince is hoping for a girl: “Charles would love to have a little girl to dangle on his knee and sing mushy songs to.”
www.slate.com/id/2063403/
He really seemed to enjoy the old lifestyle. He didn’t feel guilty about giving a girl a dangle on his knee or stealing a kiss. He seemed to actually enjoy dancing (even though the old memory actually knew the steps).
www.dragonmount.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 86415f769f
Dandle (‘bounce up and down’) is a pretty nearly obsolete word, and is almost always in the context of the phrase “dandle on (s.o.)’s kneeâ€. Dangling doesn’t fit what people do to children on their (the adults’) knees, but at least it’s a familiar word, and it isn’t totally incompatible with what happens. (Typically the child’s legs dangle, and sometimes kids will use an adult’s lap as a kind of jungle gym, hanging upside-down from them, and so forth.)
Anyhow, I’m happy to call it a malaprop. I’m less sure I see it as an eggcorn. Not a prototypical one, anyway.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2008-07-26 09:48:06)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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Dangle/dandle has been mentioned in passing here. Thank you for documenting and discussing it. I think it’s a good eggcorn, nearly a classic. For most people “dandling on the knee” has the more general sense of “playing.” It’s much broader than bouncing a child on your knee and reciting “Ride a cock horse….”
The OED mentions several seventeenth century examples of the inversion of this eggcorn-i.e., “dandle” being used in place of “dangle.” The roundtrip still happens, despite the obscurity of “dandle.” Had to laugh at these (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&clie … tnG=Search) examples of “dandling participle.”
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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Sorry, I missed that previous mention. My bad.
I agree that for most, including myself, “dandle†would fit almost any sort of affectionate playing with a child on your lap. I got the other from a dictionary.
I love your dandling participles.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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