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desist » decease

Chiefly in:   cease and decease

Classification: English – final d/t-deletion – idiom-related

Spotted in the wild:

  • Complainant issued a cease and decease letter to Respondent informing Respondent of the registration of the mark and common law rights Complainant claimed in the name “Blackmon Mooring.” (National Arbitration Forum: Steamatic, Inc. v. Hieu Nguyen)
  • Valles was dragged into that controversy when he rejected a petition by miners for a temporary restraining order on a cease-and-decease order issued by Monkayo Mayor Joel Brillantes because of environmental concerns. (Philippine News Digest 25)
  • It was noted that the Board had previously voted to send cease and decease letters and the Compliance Unit was directed at the meeting to immediately initiate sending letters out. (Maryland Board of Pharmacy - minutes)

A presumably deliberate use of “cease and decease” occurs in a song titled “I am somebody,” by Jurassic 5.

The relatively low frequency of “desist,” the similarity between “cease” and “decease,” and the fact that many people do not expect legal terms to make transparent sense may all be contributing factors in the genesis of this eggcorn.

| Comments Off link | entered by Q. Pheevr, 2005/02/16 |

faze » phase

Chiefly in:   phased, unphased

Classification: English – nearly mainstream

Spotted in the wild:

  • Mr James is unlikely to be phased by the criticisms which will undoubtedly come his way in taking on the much derided dome. (Guardian, September 6, 2000)
  • She was not phased by her opposition. “It was weird I had to keep reminding myself who I was swimming against,” she said. (Daily Telegraph - Sport, 16 February 2005)
  • Kucinich not phased by Gephardt’s early dropout (The Lantern, February 5, 2004)
  • University not phased by allegations against school apparel manufacturer (Daily Illini, March 5, 2004)
  • And yet, through all of this, there stood Onyx. Unscathed, and apparently unphased by the very worst that Fay has had to offer thus far. (Bestviral.com videos, March 5, 2008)

Analyzed or reported by:

Google indicates 50,000 hits on English pages for _fazed by_ versus 26,600 for _phased by_. An original/eggcorn ratio of 1.88 is very high, and indeed the substitution is found frequently in journalistic writing. The Guardian’s _Corrections and clarifications_ columns offer several examples, such as this one, with a hint of exasperation:

> A preview of tonight’s episode of 24 on page 89 of the Guide, states, “She’s the only one not that phased by Jack, Tony and Gael’s secret plot …” The word (once again) should be fazed.

The Language Log post referenced above provides further information, such as Arnold Zwicky’s commentary:

> MWDEU has an entertaining entry on “faze, phase, feaze, feeze”, which notes that “phase” for “faze” is very common and remarks that it “is almost a century old now, and we are not especially hopeful that it will be phased out.” But they do recommend reserving “faze” to mean ‘daunt’. [..]

The American Heritage® Book of English Usage has an entry on it as well.

Edit, 2008-08-26 (CW): Added reference to and cites for “unphased”, which, as rightly pointed out by Ken Lakritz in the Eggcorn forums, were missing from this entry.

| 3 comments | link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2005/02/16 |

wringer » ringer

Classification: English

Spotted in the wild:

  • “There are companies out there that find success without putting employees through the ringer.” (link)
  • This guy has been put through the ringer by the medical establishment for trying unconventional approaches, and almost lost his license to practice medicine. (link)

Supplied in e-mail to me, 10 February 2005, by Philip Jones, who added:

> A quick Googling shows 6810 hits for “put through the wringer” vs. 4310 for the same string with “ringer”. Google wants to know if I really meant, “put through the ring.”

See also ringer>wringer.

| 1 comment | link | entered by Arnold Zwicky, 2005/02/16 |

severally » severely

Chiefly in:   jointly and severely

Classification: English

Spotted in the wild:

  • A member who elects to terminate its membership or is cancelled by a group remains jointly and severely liable for workers’ compensation obligations of the group and its members which were incurred during the cancelled or terminated member’s period of membership. (Connecticut General Statues, Jan. 1, 1997)
  • Pertinent to this appeal, the court then found Carrier and Yellow Freight jointly and severely liable for the damage sustained by the unit. (Supreme Court of Iowa ruling, Feb. 14, 2001)
  • The PSA Executive shall be jointly and severely responsible for approving all activities sponsored and co-sponsored by the PSA, including all events involving the raising or spending of PSA funds. (University of Calgary Political Science Association Constitution)

The legal expression jointly and severally is defined here.

A Google search on jointly and severely [sic] yields further examples in which this eggcorn has been enshrined in case law.

| Comments Off link | entered by Ben Zimmer, 2005/02/16 |

paean » peon

Classification: English

Spotted in the wild:

  • Mass not only updates the state of research and the great issues that still need to be addressed, he presents a peon of praise for Hall. (Historian, Winter 1993)
  • Euphoric suggests at once a celebratory style, peons of praise to nature, to woman, to health, for instance, and a powerful emotional investment in abstract concepts and terms. (Literature and Medicine, Spring 1996)
  • To Steve Maharey, tertiary education supremo: an E for his undergraduate coupling of Boys Own Annual and Dr Pangloss in boosterish responses to questions and teeth-on-edge peons of praise to this best-of-all-possible governments. (New Zealand Herald, Dec. 19, 2001)
  • Readers don’t just renew subscriptions, they write sincere peons of praise for the paper. (Canadian Driver, Sep. 23, 2004)
| Comments Off link | entered by Ben Zimmer, 2005/02/16 |
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