Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2025-05-10
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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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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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* .
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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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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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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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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* .
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