Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
These may all be merely malapropic, but I hope not – I like the mental picture the eggcornish possibility conjures up. If there is a semantic justification, the metaphorical base may have moved from the battlefield to the kitchen, with writers imagining the members of a depleted household using the last basic items left to them. Or maybe the idea is that of, say, a vagrant, with no more possessions left than a pack, a bedroll, a fork and a plate. About 25 ughits—if you include the handful of puns from restaurant reviews. Examples:
If the Palin pick does not work, McCain can still bet on another international crisis between now and November to resurrect his foreign policy credentials in a last dish effort to gain the edge over his Democratic rival.
http://www.panacea.cc/usrepublicanpresidentia.html
But it wasn’t without a last-dish effort on the part of the Blue Devils. With just fractions of a second remaining on the clock, CCSU’s Shontice Simmons put up 3-pointer just to see it bounce around the rim and out at the buzzer.
http://www.bryantbulldogs.com/sports/wb … /11-25CCSU
Many telemarketers have stepped up their efforts recently in advance of the Oct. 1 deadline. They are trying to get in as many calls as they can prior to that. So it’s a last dish effort to beat the deadline and scam as many people as they can prior.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/di … 104×430360
No, ethics are a last-dish effort by religious fanatics to keep us in the dark-ages
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%2 … rt=10&sa=N
Last edited by patschwieterman (2009-01-18 22:17:56)
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Good eggcorn.
“Dish” may refer to the food, not the plate (as in “how many dishes did you serve in that elaborate meal?”). The “last dish” is the last serving of food. A “last dish effort” is the dessert of all our striving. If our guests are still unhappy after dessert, the meal is a failure.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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I was thinking about the food angle, hoping I could find a romantic citation that would indicate that someone was working on the “best way to a guy’s/gal’s heart is through their stomach” kind of metaphor—with the last dish being their last desperate effort—but that no go; that was kinda clutching at straws. Since I don’t believe the reshapers are thinking too hard about anything here, all possibilities probably amount to about the same thing.
Last edited by patschwieterman (2009-01-19 01:23:14)
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