Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
This is probably a flounder – I suspect you’ll find sheer>>sure substitution pretty much everywhere “sheer†usually occurs. It works pretty well in many instances – when you get through a problem by sheer willpower, you probably wouldn’t have bothered if you weren’t fairly sure of yourself to begin with. But I think my favorite instances occur when the phrase heads off in the direction of Malappropria – “by sure luck†seems virtually autoantonymic. This is obviously hard to count – it’s probably into the thousands in raw hits. Examples:
He is in a business where grammar matters if he can’t get that right- out of sure spite or lazyness -then I have to go MEH and tune out whatever comes next.
http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/ … estine.php
[Could be wordplay, but I don’t think so.]
If North Lindbergh isn’t enough of a deathtrap, geniuses-
like the one I almost intentionally rear ended tonight out of sure spite-with their dumb phones get mad when someone decides to do the unthinkable and pass them because they are driving slower than the person walking on the adjacent sidewalk. GET OUT OF THE WAY, Talkie Talkerson!
http://northcountyjournal.stltoday.com/ … 23234.html
At the worst, some lyrics feel too carefully crafted and self-congratulatory. Still, for the occasional dud, there are lines that he somehow makes work, almost by sure force of will (“You are not my typewriter but you could be my demon moving forward through flaming doors.”)
http://www.savetherobot.com/articles/wi … xtrot.html
But I have to give it to Starfleet. I’m a huge Star Wars geek, but by sure numbers alone, Starfleet has it.
http://www.robotech.com/community/forum … forumid=12
I turned a few things on in my settings that were off and changed a few things around a bit and by sure luck alone I actually managed to get several HBO’s working again as well as some missing channels.
http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/2/206078.html
Only by sure luck did the police catch him at the airport.
http://www.topix.com/forum/source/stamf … LD1JBUJ8DK
Because I ascended very quickly by sure talent, ingenuity and dedication.
https://www.mediabistro.com/bbs/cache/t41277_1.asp
[Sometimes it works so well you can’t be absolutely sheer it’s a mistake.]
Last edited by patschwieterman (2009-04-04 00:28:50)
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Your post is Sure poetry.
Last edited by burred (2009-04-04 17:43:32)
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Burred wrote,
Sure poetry.
“is sure poetry” gets 151 raw hits at the moment.
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That is sure surprising—I’d have expected more.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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I’ll have to go back and review flounders and the other classifications, but otherwise this one sounds like an eggcorn to me—and a pretty significant one at that. I love it when something is sitting right out there in the open (and in ample quantity), then suddenly one of us realizes what it is and plucks it.
The reshaping certainly follows the usually eggcorn route—passing from the less familiar to the more familiar: people sure know what sure means, but it takes sheer confidence for some to use sheer.
Whether the flounder/eggcorn debate wraps up any time soon, I’m still adding this one to my list of favorites for the year … in sure defiance.
This one—with a few dozen Google hits—has the feel of an eggcorn...
Random-Thought : Message: Dependence Day [os]
A sculpture hewn as reminder of the loss, sure defiance against anarchy, a promise of our resilience seems obvious to me. For anyone who acknowledges we are made in the image of a …
groups.yahoo.com/group/Random-Thought/message/282?l=1 · Cached page
...but this one—with tens of millions of Google hits—seems ambiguous (and might be a flounder?)...
Timothy, Titus, and Silas, Companions of Paul
... and didst make them strong to endure hardship: Strengthen us to stand fast in adversity, and to live righteous and godly lives in this present time, that with sure confidence we …
justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/88.html · Cached page
Last edited by jorkel (2009-04-05 09:24:50)
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For me “sure confidence†has always been redundant (at worst) rather than eggcornish. I use it in contexts where “sheer†would not work very well, in the sure (though perhaps misguided) confidence that I’m speaking (or writing) good English.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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