Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
You are not logged in.
Registrations are currently closed because of a technical problem. Please send email to
The forum administrator reserves the right to request users to plausibly demonstrate that they are real people with an interest in the topic of eggcorns. Otherwise they may be removed with no further justification. Likewise, accounts that have not been used for posting may be removed.
Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
The problem with considering “co-insides†an eggcorn is obvious: si is a very common and utterly predictable substitution for ci, and nearly any given instance could be a simple misspelling. Nevertheless, I think the potential for a good semantic justification is there: the reshaping seems to suggest that two things share conceptual “insides,†which is a reasonable way of describing the sense of overlap that the acorn conveys.
The spelling with a hyphen isn’t proof of eggcornicity since “co-incides†is a not-uncommon spelling of the standard version, but its use among reshapers just might be highlighting an eggcornish logic. Unsurprisingly, the hits numbers are quite big, but they’re obviously swollen by misspellings. What may be more telling is that the reanalysis appears on a number of websites that are high-profile and/or well edited. Examples:
As Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley notes, here, Microsoft’s interest in fast tracking co-insides with the growing mandate from national and local governments that their software confirms to standards, and are no longer proprietary.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/04 … _petition/
The overhaul co-insides with a major revamp of the print magazine that has seen publication day (in the US) shift to Friday from earlier in the week.
http://www.journalism.co.uk/2/articles/53135.php
This European tour co-insides with the release of their latest Album titled ‘Oh Gravity’.
http://www.tsunamisurfrelief.co.uk/News.htm
The event which co-insides with the 10th anniversary of the formation of the club is open to the public and will start with a free talk at 7.30pm on Friday January 25th at either the Westwood Hotel or a lecture hall at NUI Galway.
http://www.popastro.com/phpBB2/viewtopi … f93520efc2
Looking for reasons to be annoyed? The following writer is talking about American teachers of English who are, he claims, often “functionally illiterateâ€:
Recently I read a message from one American teacher that used the pseudo-word “co-insides.” It took me a while to figure out that this teacher was trying to write “coincides.” Apparently he or she had never seen the word in print before. In any case, it was sobering to see such poor English from someone being paid to teach others.
http://www.antimoon.com/forum/t1489.htm
It gets much worse, but I wasn’t sure I should be allowing this articulate but racist/classist writer to have a sounding-board on this forum. His remarks at the original site do offer what is probably a typical sample of just how stupid an educated person’s opinions about reshapings and misspellings can be.
And the Antimoon forums are kind of interesting in themselves: English learners ask questions about usage, and other forum members – supposedly native speakers – offer advice. Sometimes the advice is laughable; sometimes it’s excellent – informed, thoughtful and nuanced.
Last edited by patschwieterman (2009-01-19 22:10:37)
Offline
I’m partial to unusual imagery so this with its sub-atomic possibilities, or less complicated notion of shared giblets, certainly gets my vote.
Offline