Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
“Diangular†makes pretty good sense to me – in context it would appear to mean something like “running from one of two angles/corners to the other.†Weirdly, the Greek roots of “diagonal†are pretty darn similar. According to the OED, the word “diagonal” literally means something like “from angle to angle.†At first I worried that we had an obscure violation of the etymological rule on our hands, but it turns out that the Greek root of “-gonal†is from the same Indo-European root as English “knee,†while “angle†goes back to the IE root that ultimately gave us “England,†“anchor†and “ankle†—and “onchocerciasis.”
The OED does not list a word “diangular,†but Google turns up 284 ughits / 101 ughits. Most of these seem to be from uses in organic chemistry, crystallography or math. In those instances, the word doesn’t (as far as I can tell) mean “diagonal.â€
I’d say that this probably isn’t a flounder because I doubt the users are aware of the very rare technical use. And I believe they’re reshaping the “-agonal†part of “diagonal†(a part-of-the whole substitution) rather than making a whole-for-whole substitution. The potentially eggcornish use probably accounts for no more than two dozen unique hits tops. Examples:
I know there is a way that can cut country corners somewhere down RT 24 towards Gumboro. Maybe follow RT 24 to RT 54 and find some sort of diangular road off of it?
http://delmarva.momslikeme.com/members/ … &m=3214399
Guitar body features a “Rising Sun” graphic with 777 along side one of the rays.The back of the body features diangular black and yellow stripes.
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/revi … ature/10/1
It’s not boring like the other designs
that are either straight vertically or horizontally. The diangular design of the ring is tremendous.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Interlock-your-Love … 4004r12821
Nice diangular split by the wall
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13922644@N05/2380370839/
[The comment is on the photography site Flickr and refers to a wall that runs from one corner of a photograph of a farm to the other.]
sounds good? but please do not put a foutian in the middle of main st. and do not add diangular parking on main street. that would ruin our town.
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/finley- … N6CEBLOH9V
Max loves to do seek-and-find word puzzles. Today, after finding a word, he said, LOOK! It’s diangular! to note the diagonally-placed word. I love the things he comes up with. :)
http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:hY … cd=1&gl=us
[Not direct evidence of the usage, but a parent talking about how their 7-year-old used the term.]
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