Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
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Honcho entered English very recently, from the Japanese word for “group leader” hancho, a compound of han “corps, squad” + cho “head, chief.” The adoption occurred during either WWII (http://podictionary.com/?p=256) or the Korean War (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=honcho) or both. Head honcho is therefore a pleonasm, or redundant phrase, though clearly necessary for non-Japanese speakers, in the way that New Orleans’ Pontchartrain Bridge is for non-francophones. The haunch is the region of the hip, upper thigh and buttocks, that has been named, I presume, because it is a natural part to cut from an animal (http://www.consultsos.com/pandora/haunch.htm). Honcho is thus being assimilated into English through a side door. Various stops along the way: honcho > hauncho (1960 ughits) > haunch-o > haunch o > haunch, and also by a great leap: haunt show. The connection to haunch is … I don’t know. I feel it’s right, but I don’t know why. In fact, I feel it’s so right that I can’t shake the feeling that it’s here on this forum but just doesn’t show up in my searches. I’m calling it a reshaping.
News item comment:
What about Nardelli, the head hauncho for Chrysler, how much money has he been stuffing into his pockets?
http://www.windsorstar.com/news/head+Wa … story.html
Blog. Here there may be some semantic connection to haunch:
Last night it was amazing to watch their social skills. One “alpha” doe (the head hauncho) gets feeding priveleges and if there is a buck in the crowd, regardless of size, he gets top privelege with the alpha doe or so I’ve seen.
(http://cassfamilyreflections.blogspot.c … olden.html)
Hotel restaurant review:
Best course was Souffle with chocolate sauce which has 45 minutes wait to be cooked which enables you to watch the other diners. We had silican enhanced wife in low cut dress being given exceptionally attentive service by waiters on nearby table and younger Yoko Ono who ordered one of the more expensive wines that the head hauncho poured with great florish. Total cost for our meal 160 Euro – Ouch.
http://www.tripadvisor.in/ShowUserRevie … eneto.html
Gamer blog. Sizable haunches might be useful for this feat.:
I’d talk more about it, but I’m afraid the head-hauncho would punt me like a field goal. Oh wait, he’s editing this? Nevermind.
http://wow.stratics.com/content/feature … humbug.php
Blog about Google:
New employees should be aware that their head-haunch-o bosses won’t be around longer than 20 years though, if they are expecting to stick around that long.
(http://www.ginside.com/2008/1377/google … imination/)
Blog:
I got word from DAN FREAKING VADO Editor and chief, President, Head haunch o of Slave Labor Graphics the other day,
(http://nosleepjinx.deviantart.com/journ … ?offset=20)
Blog:
But then when there are projects to do for the head haunch man and when they take thought… how wearisome. ;) I think I have been sufficiently brain-fried in college… glad I’m graduating SOON!!
(http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:93w … =firefox-a)
Agriculture discussion group:
one of your republican leaders (Thadeus McCotter) thinks that GMC’s head haunch should not have resigned.
(http://www.agweb.com/discussionboard/to … hichpage=2)
If you see Julia, she’s the head haunch here. Hide the stash when she comes around.
(http://ditto.yuku.com/topic/7391/t/Re-W … ml?page=-1)
myspace blog:
If angels were real, this young lady would deffinately be the head haunt show. I love her with every fiber of my being, and always will.
(http://www.myspace.com/nakedpuppet)
Nother Myspace blog:
Joe, the head haunt show...the man… pretty much the Dad of all of us Jimmy’s workers.
http://www.myspace.com/toshio06
Rap:
The best of both worlds
Rapping and drug dealing
Run and tell the chief I came to burn down the village
The head haunt show, staring out the third story window
Of my Beverly Hills condo
(http://www.veeshanvault.org/forums/view … lit=xyphir)
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I like ‘head hauncho’. It sounds like the best, the prime cut of meat: Sir Loin and Head Hauncho. But ‘head haunt show’ is a real gem whether it’s an eggcorn or not, suggesting a personality so overwhelming that mere mortals are tormented by involuntary internal revues of the great one.
There are also several hundred hits for the ‘head huncho’ variant, suggesting one who possesses superior gifts of intuition, or perhaps simply has the biggest hump.
Last edited by Peter Forster (2009-04-15 03:29:30)
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“The head haunches” was briefly mentioned at
http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/forum/view … hp?id=2847
There’s a link to a drawing of it there.
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I especially like the juxtaposition of “head haunt show†with the beloved angelic young lady. Bizarre!
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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Sir Loin and Head Hauncho! The barbecuers to the Round Table. It’s clearer now, thanks!
David, I knew I’d seen those haunches before. Your short line there probably festered down deep somewhere to reemerge as this post. Who knows how the rest of the twisted texts in that post have damaged me. Loved the pic: very Mervyn Peake. You’re right about the strangeness of the angel post – it’s as if the “head haunt show” makes reference to her haunting his thoughts or dreams?
Speaking of being marked for life by eggcorns, “head huncho” reminds me of the cartoon caption that runs through my head whenever I slip into the Slog of Despond: I’m not even a real modo – I’m just a Quasimodo.
Probing deeper – or rather, sometimes anything goes
Nostalgic blog:
all of it left: the abundance of true friends, the deep intillectual talks, and the unforgettable memories. they must have washed away with one of my friend’s virginity, a couple of girls first smoke, and a dozen’s first kegger. maybe they’ve realized that they are too good to be good anymore. all they want is someones hands down their pants and a night they’ll never remember. the head pauncho of the rebellion came to the party [ for who knows why ] she didnt say hi, she didnt talk, she completely ignored me. (http://nostalgicmistakes.blogspot.com/2 … e-sun.html)
High quality term papers for sale, subject Macbeth
He killed his best friend, his relatives, and all in all his wife because of one bad choice he made. Macbeth had a tragic flaw within in him that was bringing to him his end. His pride in which he wanted to be the highest, the head Pancho eventually killed him and many innocent others. But what saved him from suicide was his recognition that what he had done was (http://www.directessays.com/viewpaper/40318.html)
I liked “head Pancho” – that’s like chief sidekick, I guess.
Blog.
The sacred cult that has been secretly confined in the holy area of mahurangi, the head pancho ‘Bishop Morehu Arepa’ preaches his practices through everyday routines and choors…. (http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=1586885785)
Forum to report phone scams:
The first person i spoke with claims she recieved my information online through grant money request form. However this is not true. I have never applied for a grant which gave them away. I asked to speak with a superior, I am placed on hold and when the head puncho answers to speak with me. You wouldn’t believe it was the same person with different twitch in voice. (http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-831-303-2704/2)
Conspiracy theorist blog:
My goodness if they nail a head poncho of comparative religious studies they are prepared to nail anyone … (http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum … 424062/pg1)
Is this like a cardinal’s vesture?
Last edited by burred (2009-04-15 10:51:57)
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Just over a year ago, the comic strip Doonesbury had a female character who described herself and her companion as honchas, a detour through Spanish gender morphology that vaguely reminds me of head Pancho.
http://linganth.blogspot.com/2008/03/cr … ation.html
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These are wonderful!
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“Head Pancho” would be a nice Annie-style restructuring. It substitutes a word from one culture with a proper name from another.
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Is a “head pauncho” the kind that thinks with his gut (goes by his gut reactions)?
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One way or another, too many chiefs in the soup, I think.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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Thanks for the link, nilep. It’s true that a honcho sounds like someone who would be at home hanging with the hombres and honchitas at the rancho. It’s a preadapted word – except that its introduction has been resisted in Mexico as far I can tell. On the other hand, I wonder how many women would respond warmly to being called a hauncha1.
I also stumbled across your post on punctuated language evolution— now you’re talking my language. Taking the example of the borrowing of “honcho”, war must be a catalyst to rapid language growth (is this kind of question that sociolinguistics poses?). We do owe most multisyllabic words in English to being overrun.
It’s too bad that, as Pat showed, there are too many variables changing at once on the web to be able to follow certain changes quantitatively through time and across cultures, such as the appearance of eggcorns in English. For instance, it is striking how rich the Southeast Asian pages are for eggcorns. It seems reasonable that, coming from a culture that lacks the same Greek and Latin roots (though they do belong to Indic languages and to sans script? ), they may be freer to make connections that the native speakers would never think of. At first encounter, no borrowed words could ever figure on Kilgarriff’s list .
As always, I beg your indulgence if these questions are beyond the pale, or rather beneath it.
David: “Head pauncho” hits just too close to home for me.
Edit: Rereading your post just now, I had a flash of understanding – in my first post, I had confused “Pancho” with “Sancho Panza”, hence my comment on the sidekick. You may interview me if you want to get eye-witness data on the goof!
[1] 650 ughits for head honcher; one hapax legooglenonce for head hauncher:
dear blog-i gave an ultimatum to the head hauncher – i stated firmly, if changes aren’t made, there isn’t a possible way i can withstand my employment with this affiliation any longer.
(http://siennaeyes.xanga.com/599670460/just-ranting/)
Last edited by burred (2009-04-15 17:27:45)
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Related, but a different type
It’s a very popular under-the-radar spot for the cognescenti
and high honchos of the city, business, media, politicos, sports [etc.]
Assuming y’all’s indulgence, I’ve made this impressive collection into a webpage .
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2009-04-15 18:38:49)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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