Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
I’ve occasionally heard kids call them “bubble bees,” so I wanted to see if any adults used the same reshaping. Astonishingly, Google returns 32.9k raw ghits for “bubble bee.” But when I tried “a bubble bee,” I got a much saner reading of 927/130 r/ughits. I think the huge number for “bubble bee” is probably due to much-linked-to commercial sites that are advertising “bubble bee salt and pepper shakers” and whatnot. In any case, I don’t think bumble bees look much like bubbles – they’re black and yellow, after all – but they are rounder and chubbier than honeybees. And their motion is dreamier and floatier than that of their smaller cousins. (Hey, don’t blame me for “floatier” – it’s in MW Online.) Examples:
As far as being a “Short chubby beeâ€, I would think that this would be a bubble bee or one of it’s cousins.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_S … g_at_night
[The poster self-identifies as a beekeeper.]
For more subtle additions, use unique napkin rings made from inexpensive jewelry pieces – a bubble bee pin for a yellow accent or a Chinese take out container for a red accent.
http://www.happeningsandholidays.com/En … arty.shtml
Apparently I looked a little like a cross between a bubble bee and an onion.
http://www.naquada.co.uk/2006/07/12/
[Clicking on the highlighted phrase will bring up a cutely illustrative photograph. His description’s pretty accurate.]
Arizona city is attacked by bubble bees that have crossed bred with african bees.
http://www.mrcranky.com/movies/flightof … x/3/6.html
[“Crossed bred”?]
Even the enemy designs are outrageous, including junkyard zombies, a water heater with legs, and a bubble bee with a machine gun stinger.
http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/2 … 5/game-on/
Here’s a puzzler – the writer gives the usual lyrics to “The Bumble Bee Song,” but alternates between “bumble” and “bubble” for much of the post. Perhaps they see the two as acceptable variants of each other? Or maybe this is just a way of capturing the way some children pronounce “bumble bee”:
“Im looking for a baby bumble bee, wont my mummy be so proud of me, I’m looking for a baby bubble bee, ah i found one!
I’m picking up my baby bumble bee, wont my mummy be so proud of me! i’m picking up my baby bubble bee! OWW! it stung me!
Im squishing up my baby bumble be wont my mummy be so proud of me, im squishing up my baby bubble bee! EWWW! What a mess!
I’m licking up my baby bumble bee, wont my mummy be so proud of me, I’m licking up my baby bumble bee…oh I feel sick!
I’m throwing up my baby bumble be wont my mummy be so proud of me, im throwing up my baby bumble bee, oh no! no more bumble bee!”
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2 … post=24148
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I think I see some eggcorn imagery in “bubblebees.” “Bubble” could also call up images of the distinctive pollen sacs on most species of bumblebee. They look like little balloons.
There may be an eggcorn hidden in the acorn. Bumblebees, or, as they were also commonly known until the twentieth century, humblebees, are neither humble nor bumblers. Humble is probably a diminutive derived from a word related to “hum,” and “bumble” is another diminutive built from a word related to “bomb” and “boom.” Both versions of the name showcase the distinctive buzzing sound made by Bombus bees.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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There are also a few “bundle bees” buzzing about on Google—maybe more references to those pollen “sacks.” Nearly all of the “bungle bees” seem to be puns, but some appear in parents’ proud stories of their kids’ reshapings. Eggcorners in larval form.
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Eggcorners in larval form.
I don’t remember any larval eggcorners, but I’ve had a few pupas that could bend the language.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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My favorite “Bubble Bee” is at the following link, but it’s intentional.
http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/g2/bubble.htm
(flash site)
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