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Chris -- 2018-04-11

#1 2008-07-27 00:13:19

patschwieterman
Administrator
From: California
Registered: 2005-10-25
Posts: 1680

"three-toad sloth" for "three-toed sloth"

Maybe three-toad sloths are a little like three-dog knights? Someone out there somewhere probably has a private narrative to explain this eggcornishly (the Urban Dictionary weighs in with an imaginative possibility), but I’m content to slip it into Slips, etc. as an entertaining misspelling. 959/139 r/ughits, but most of them are for the Boston-area bar band. Examples:

The more common wildlife encountered are White-faced Monkeys, Howler Monkeys, Green Iguanas, Two-toad and Three-toad Sloth; birds include toucans, parrots and wetland birds, such as herons, jacanas and egrets.
http://www.birdingpanama.com/ecotourism.html

Three-toad sloth
http://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/bioinformat … hp?id=6488
[The website for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute – your tax dollars at work! Cute picture of a 3-toad sloth]

One of the most common animals to see at Arenas del Mar, is the three toad sloth.
http://www.arenasdelmar.com/blog/2008/0 … cious.html

I said a three toad sloth would have been a better president than Bush.
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/30/141156/358

These rainforests are home to species such us the Jaguar (Felis onca), the Tapir (Tapirus bairdii), which is the biggest animal found in the tropical jungles of America, the Three Toad Sloth (Bradypus variegatus) and three of the four species of monkeys found in Costa Rica: the White-Faced Capuchin, the Howler and the Spider monkeys. (Ateles geoffroyi, Cebus capucinus and Alouatta paliata).
http://www.conlith.com/best/tortuguero.shtml

The three-toad sloth loves leaves of the Cecropia tree
http://www.callunafineflowers.com/memor … ivores.htm
[Another cute sloth picture – with a caption in the standard spelling]

I like this one so much that I want to enact a “hidden” semantic shift upon it so that it’ll be more useful to me. Maybe I should make “sloth” kind of analogous to “drunk” in “three-day drunk,” so that it means “an extended period of laziness”: “Sorry I don’t have the editing for you yet – I’ve been on a three-toad sloth.” Or maybe I could use the phrase “riding the nightmare” as the template: “I haven’t gotten any writing done this week – I’ve been riding the three-toad sloth the whole time.”

[Edit: Oops, meant to post this to Slips. I’m not making an argument for its eggcornicity.]

Last edited by patschwieterman (2008-07-27 01:26:20)

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#2 2008-07-27 09:49:22

DavidTuggy
Eggcornista
From: Mexico
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 2752
Website

Re: "three-toad sloth" for "three-toed sloth"

Might it not refer to gastronomic capacity?

(As you suggest, we are exercising the amazing human capacity for making some sort of sense out of just about anything. If we were to meet somebody who really thought it was that, then I’d be willing to call it an eggcorn.)


*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .

(Possible Corollary: it is, and we are .)

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#3 2008-07-28 15:20:07

jorkel
Eggcornista
Registered: 2006-08-08
Posts: 1456

Re: "three-toad sloth" for "three-toed sloth"

Or perhaps a tree toad sloth…

Yet Another Damn Blog
Jul 25, 2008 … Her: Good point. Me: You don’t hear much about tree toads. Her: Except for the tree toad sloth. posted by Mike @ 7/25/2008 0 comments links …
litcritter.blogspot.com/2008/07/me-theres-frog-o… – 46k – Similar pages
http://litcritter.blogspot.com/2008/07/ … -deck.html

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#4 2008-07-29 13:28:16

kem
Eggcornista
From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2007-08-28
Posts: 2872

Re: "three-toad sloth" for "three-toed sloth"

About 150 ghits for “three-towed sloth.” This one is could be an eggcorn-a metaphorical reference to a lazy scofflaw who keeps parking his car in a no-parking zone (grin).


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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#5 2008-07-29 13:37:14

DavidTuggy
Eggcornista
From: Mexico
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 2752
Website

Re: "three-toad sloth" for "three-toed sloth"

A thrice-towed tail …


*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .

(Possible Corollary: it is, and we are .)

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