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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Probably not an eggcorn but I like the way that “feted†here seems like it could almost be a euphemism for “notorious.†About 45 ughits. Examples:
He could smell the stale stink of cigarettes and alcohol on his feted breath as he grinned with sheer malevolence.
http://www.stu-artpage.co.uk/dc%201.htm
While he was busily involved in the blues scene in the ‘30s and ‘40s, he managed to keep out of the recording studio almost completely; inevitably, somebody else is tooting kazoo, thumbing washtub, or huffing clouds of feted breath across the top of a jug on vintage recordings by the Memphis Jug Band, or at least this is what the credits indicate on reissues.
http://www.answers.com/topic/dewey-corley
Will felt transfixed as the head drew down towards him. He could feel hot feted breath like pungent steam ruffle his soaked clothes.
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/208872
Last edited by patschwieterman (2009-03-05 23:18:56)
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patschwieterman wrote:
Probably not an eggcorn but I like the way that “feted†here seems like it could almost be a euphemism for “notorious.â€
I’m not seeing the relationship to notorious. There’s also no obvious connection to the verb fete “celebrate”.
These all seem like misspellings of fetid “offensive smelling”, which makes this another -ed/-id substitution.
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At first I thought this was a reshaping of “bated breath”, but it appears that “feted” is a misspelling of “fetid” in the three examples.
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Nilep wrote:
I’m not seeing the relationship to notorious. There’s also no obvious connection to the verb fete “celebrateâ€.
These all seem like misspellings of fetid “offensive smellingâ€, which makes this another -ed/-id substitution.
Not exactly a coincidence, Nilep—I posted this because of yesterday’s ”-ed/-id” discussion. Like you, I think these are all misspellings of “fetid”; I kinda thought that would be immediately obvious….
As for “notorious,” my not-very-serious point was that the misspelling ends up making a little bit of unintended sense—it’s as if the person with bad breath were “celebrated”/”notorious” for their fetor.
Last edited by patschwieterman (2009-03-07 05:30:22)
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I can see a link to fete in the first two… breath that smells of alcohol could be said to be “feted” breath… but of course it’s pretty unlikely that the writers made that connection.
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patschwieterman wrote:
I posted this because of yesterday’s ”-ed/-id” discussion. Like you, I think these are all misspellings of “fetid”; I kinda thought that would be immediately obvious….
Yes, that bit was obvious. I was just making it explicit.
As for “notorious,” my not-very-serious point was that the misspelling ends up making a little bit of unintended sense—it’s as if the person with bad breath were “celebrated”/”notorious” for their fetor.
That part was not obvious to me. I guess I missed the joke. It happens (as when a reference to “un petit deux petit” is not understood as an allusion to Mot D’heures: Gousses Rames). That’s sort of why I made the obvious bit explicit.
-Chad
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