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#1 2008-08-21 10:05:25

Craig C Clarke
Eggcornista
Registered: 2005-11-18
Posts: 233
Website

Eggcornicity or eggcornocity?

Which would be correct?
Do we discuss the eggcornicity of a submission, or the eggcornocity?

Is there a linguistic rule governing these kinds of word constructions?

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#2 2008-08-21 12:32:13

nilep
Eggcornista
Registered: 2007-03-21
Posts: 291

Re: Eggcornicity or eggcornocity?

I have a vague – extremely vague – notion that -icity and -ocity are used with precise meanings in some technical field. Maybe physics?

But in everyday use the difference between -osity and -icity is a phonological, rather than a semantic¹ one. That is, for adjectives ending in -ic the derived noun ends in -icity; for adjectives ending in -ous, -ose or the like, the derived noun ends in -osity.

Since eggcorn is a new word, the question becomes, what is (or should be) the form of the derived adjective? I think that, subconsciously, I have been using eggcornicity in parallel with iconicity.

icon > iconic > iconicity
eggcorn > *eggcornic > eggcornicity

But I’ve never actually used the word “eggcornic” as far as I can remember.

Ah, but wait, Ken has:

klakritz, 2005-11-30, ‘do under others’ for ‘do unto others’
The Golden Rule is a prime target for eggcornic revision.

¹ I should, say, rather than a strictly semantic one, since there is some difference in nuance between -ic versus -ous etc. as suffixes for deriving adjectives.

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#3 2008-08-21 13:32:59

DavidTuggy
Eggcornista
From: Mexico
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 2714
Website

Re: Eggcornicity or eggcornocity?

I too prefer the iconicity of eggcornicity to the preposterosity of eggcornosity. Eggcornocity looks like a combination of the two, though maybe it is produced at a higher velocity.

Last edited by DavidTuggy (2008-08-21 15:39:12)


*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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#4 2008-08-21 13:38:54

JonW719
Eggcornista
From: Colorado
Registered: 2007-09-05
Posts: 285

Re: Eggcornicity or eggcornocity?

I’ve heard people say a word is “eggcornish” sometimes, I think. Perhaps that short i sound lends itself to “eggcornicity” more than to “ocity.”


Feeling quite combobulated.

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#5 2008-08-21 16:45:53

TootsNYC
Eggcornista
Registered: 2007-06-19
Posts: 263

Re: Eggcornicity or eggcornocity?

If we’re going to use it as a song title, or in lyrics, I vote for “eggcornicity.”

Though, it won’t rhyme with “velocity.”

(my mother loves the moment in the song “The Last Saskatchewan Pirate” in which the writer finds a rhyme for “fertilizer”)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHAl1tWvvPA

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#6 2008-08-21 23:40:13

Craig C Clarke
Eggcornista
Registered: 2005-11-18
Posts: 233
Website

Re: Eggcornicity or eggcornocity?

Hmmm. So it seems I jumped ahead a step, and it all comes down to whether words are eggcornic or eggcornous.

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#7 2008-08-22 08:43:22

DavidTuggy
Eggcornista
From: Mexico
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 2714
Website

Re: Eggcornicity or eggcornocity?

I vote for eggcornish and eggcornishness, but will continue to use eggcornosity or eggcornicness as my fancy moves me.


*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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