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#1 2007-07-28 23:23:29

klakritz
Eggcornista
From: Winchester Massachusetts
Registered: 2005-10-25
Posts: 674

'potmarked' for 'pockmarked'

Happily, most of us have never seen a face marked by smallpox, so the origin of ‘pockmarked’ is becoming a bit obscure. And that leaves an opening for this obvious substitute. 900+ ghits:

Federal Bureau of Investigation – Denver Field Division …Facial: extremly potmarked face, several day growth of beard. Clothing: Blue bandana on head, Black jacket, blue jeans.
denver.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/2006/bankrobber120406.htm

With his blazing blue eyes and potmarked skin, Divoff’s handsomeness is swarthy and perfect for the part.
www.amazon.ca/Wishmaster-Robert-Kurtzman/dp/6304808178

His face is potmarked and patchy; tears wet his cheeks.
www.bravenewtraveler.com/2007/04/19/the … g-beggars/

The entire front end was pitted and potmarked from salt.
www.hdforums.com/archive/threads/riding … 136-1.html

People complain because the soutside, eastside and westside neighborhoods are potmarked with empty lots, vacant & boarded up building, absentee landlords, ...
forums.speakupwny.com/showthread.php?t=2623&page=3

In the shadow of the San Francisco Mountains, the landscape is potmarked with volcanic craters, and several black cones rise up from the country.
www.u.arizona.edu/~brunke/galleries/az/ … rater.html

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#2 2007-07-29 02:13:35

patschwieterman
Administrator
From: California
Registered: 2005-10-25
Posts: 1680

Re: 'potmarked' for 'pockmarked'

Since p/t/k often substitute for each other, I wondered whether there were any hits for “popmarked” out there. After all, I was often told as a kid that “popping” zips would leave scars. There are 60-some raw hits for “popmarked,” but the great majority of those are on Danish-language sites, where the word seems to mean “the market for pop music.” I still managed to bag a few:

I sat there and held a napkin to the popmarked face and regretted not having many zits in my teen years, as I’m feeling the retribution in my early twenties (three, on my nose, in the past two weeks).
http://pipharper.blogspot.com/2005/12/how-old-am-i.html

Nick, remembering his snotty sibling is a family unfriendly bitch who slapped their Pop’s popmarked puss and is shacked up with the same mangy no account midnight cowboy who slept with his wife, huffed, “If you don’t want to talk, I’m outta here!”
http://www.yrnews.com/stories/2003/victoria.htm

Sorry Mac … me again … I just realised—that is some goddamn schnoz
stuck on the edge of your popmarked, leather-clad skull.
http://www.talkaboutabook.com/group/rec … 17682.html

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#3 2007-07-29 08:45:49

jorkel
Eggcornista
Registered: 2006-08-08
Posts: 1456

Re: 'potmarked' for 'pockmarked'

I couldn’t find any examples of potholes on the road being referred to as “pockholes,” so I decided to dig up a couple examples of pockmarks (on one’s face) being referred to as “potholes.” Just more imagery.

Barstool Sports :: View topic – C’s Next MoveYi has more potholes on his face than Storrow Drive. Back to top. View user’s profile · Send private message. Paul Serious Stoolie Joined: 11 Aug 2006 …
barstoolsports.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=22075&sid=c46960b92cc24bba089cde58453589a0 – 66k – Cached – Similar pages

Unrest Within- [ Translate this page ]The table on my left sits a geeky guy who numerous potholes on his face, and a good looking girl from Shanghai (no killa looks but good looking nonetheless) ...
adrenaljunkie.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_archive.html – 126k – Cached – Similar pages

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#4 2007-07-29 19:04:58

klakritz
Eggcornista
From: Winchester Massachusetts
Registered: 2005-10-25
Posts: 674

Re: 'potmarked' for 'pockmarked'

I just discovered that ‘pot marked’ is mentioned in Jan Freeman’s Boston Globe language column of april 8, which was devoted to eggcorns generally.

Although the Globe is my local paper, I don’t subscribe and don’t read it regularly. So I’d like to think of this as a spontaneous rediscovery, rather than a case of subliminal influence. Either way, though, priority to Ms. Freeman.

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#5 2007-07-29 21:31:06

patschwieterman
Administrator
From: California
Registered: 2005-10-25
Posts: 1680

Re: 'potmarked' for 'pockmarked'

The Boston Globe column Ken refers to – which I hadn’t read (thanks, Ken!) – is pretty good. It’s here: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/ … _eggcorns/

And I like Jorkel’s ingenuity in going looking for facial potholes.

Looking at both Ken’s and Jorkel’s posts, I thought, “Hmmmnnhhh – popholes?” Big potholes certainly pop bicycle tires, if not most car tires. Problem is, though, that there’s a legitimate word “pophole” out there. I didn’t know this word; maybe some other people on the forum will be unfamiliar with it, too, here’s the OED definition:

pop-hole n. a hole in a hedge, fence, etc., through which animals can pass; a small doorway in a unit housing chickens or other domestic animals.

And that’s not all. I also saw a few cases where people used the term to refer to small holes bored into rocks for the placement of explosives. And it seems to refer to small exploratory holes drilled in potential oilfields as well. All of this makes it hard to search for the “popholes” that worry us bicyclists, but I found a handful:

i was taking the car to SQ + last week and i can feel every single bump and popholes on the road, not good at all
http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/ … 17637.html

A little gas on the asphalt to make it brittle, bust it out, dig a hole and bury the IED in it, throw the chunks of asphalt back in to make it look like the start of a pophole. Have any idea how many potholes there are in Iraqi roads? It makes (pick east-coast city to make fun of) look good.
http://armsandthelaw.com/archives/2006/ … _ied_1.php
[Note that this writer managed to use both “pophole” and “pothole” in two consecutive sentences. You encounter this sort of thing a lot when you’re eggcorn-hunting, but it seems hard to explain. “T” and “P” aren’t so close on the keyboard. Perhaps only one error was caught in a later proofreading.]

you have no obligation to be honest about it, you pay highway/road taxes, you deserve to be compensated when you don’t see them in effect do not think you are the bad guy by lying about which manhole, pophole, or cover it was, there is nothing morally wrong about it. :)
http://www.rx8club.com/archive/index.php/t-95201.html

Deep large pophole
http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/list?page=24

As a non-driving bicyclist, I was interested in the British site from which the final example is drawn. It allows people to log any large pothole or road obstruction they’ve encountered so it can be reported to the authorities. I wonder whether we have the equivalent out here in California. We should.

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#6 2009-03-23 18:37:25

burred
Eggcornista
From: Montreal
Registered: 2008-03-17
Posts: 1112

Re: 'potmarked' for 'pockmarked'

Other related afflictions include being pock-mocked (201 hits)—not only are you pocked, but mocked as well, or is it that the pox, or fate, is mocking you and your skin? Also, pock-holed (201), potmocked (one-off), and for the hockey fan, puckholed (one-off) and puckmarked (about 4 referring to skin).

the premade mix you’ll find in most Japanese groceries is a decent approximation of the dish named, as legend has it, after a pock-mocked Sichuanese woman (http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=7275) (newspaper article)

Following Pat Schwieterman, it might be said that the following comment is markedly “a-rhotic”

Oh, and yeah, that “cellulite pock mocked buttocks” comment has me gagging as well. (http://www.archive.org/iathreads/post-v … ?id=201318)

The Bronson film, a black-and-white one, was made in the middle 50s. So he’s a young man without his famed mustache and pock-mocked rough demeanor. (http://www.nathanielturner.com/nukingwe … liness.htm)

This fish rots from it’s potmocked face down. (http://www.topix.com/forum/ncaa/TI34T8Q6J70DPK39B/p5)

An older looking bird with pock-holed skin attempts to sit on my knee and hold my hand. (http://www.thailandstories.com/article/ … y-one.html)

For Acne I believe the reason that health insurance covers this is because it deals with the skin and for some people acne can be painful with soares and pockholes etc. (http://hair-restoration-info.com/eve/fo … 9221043673)

A small Moon which remains untouched bar the many asteroids which have puckholed it’s surface (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/archive/index. … 65961.html)

somewhat heavyset man with a puckmarked face and deep-set eyes (http://www.geocities.com/rozejayd/bebop … /0003.html)

Last edited by burred (2009-03-24 22:13:38)

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