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Chris -- 2018-04-11
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We eggcorn-hunters tend to rely on our own intuitions as to what is a common word and what is an esoteric one.
I got the following report from a friend:
[An acquaintance] had just come back from a week of jury duty, where she had served on 2 DUI juries. One, they found guilty, the other, not so. She said on the 2nd one, the officer told them that the defendant had failed the field “psoriasis†test, but when they watched the tape from the officer’s cruiser, the jury didn’t think the defendant acted drunk at all. ¶ She used the word “field psoriasis†a couple times—I could tell she was trying to say “sobriety,†but she just didn’t know it.
I suppose that on TV you are likely to hear “psoriasis†several dozen times for one time you hear “sobrietyâ€.
Ps: follow-up on above report:
OK, OK, it was the defendant they found guilty, not the jury.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2008-11-18 23:11:19)
*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’m not sure why, but this reminds me of my brother’s story about a fellow Army warrant officer who, in a training class was stuck for the word he needed for a moment before finally saying, “in your parenthial vision.”
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In 1999, my brother had a boss who kept referring to the upcoming “KY2” computer problem.
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