Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Just listening to a BBC Radio 4 language program with Stephen Fry, and they’re talking about maritime expressions – tons of expressions from seafaring that are still in our language.
Taken aback was explained to mean when a sudden shift in wind direction catches the sailor by surprise, causing the sails to be blown in the wrong direction, to be “taken aback,” and taken aback came to refer not to the actual reversal of the sails, but rather the sudden surprise, being caught off-guard, unprepared.
I think this is now an invisible eggcorn for many people including myself, because I always picture it meaning a person literally being so physically “taken aback” by the unexpected that they move their head backward, maybe even their chest, maybe even taking a step backward.
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Yes, I think you’re right. It’s a folk etymology, coming from a hidden eggcorn—it didn’t involve any change in spelling, unlike the classic examples “crayfish” (from _écrevisse_), “hangnail” (from agnail) etc. It’s rather more close to poll tax (which is not a tax on being allowed to going to the polls).
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Chris Waigl wrote:
Yes, I think you’re right. It’s a folk etymology, coming from a hidden eggcorn—it didn’t involve any change in spelling, unlike the classic examples “crayfish” (from _écrevisse_), “hangnail” (from agnail) etc. It’s rather more close to poll tax (which is not a tax on being allowed to going to the polls).
By the way, this Stephen Fry program was very interesting, full of fascinating info about metaphors, etc. It was the first in the series, apparently will be weekly, and probably can be downloaded as a podcast from the BBC site… I’d recommend everyone check it out, I learned a lot.
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