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paprika » pepperika

Variant(s):  pepperica

Classification: English – cross-language

Spotted in the wild:

  • Order enough seafood salad from your local deli and serve in small bowls lined with red lettuce, pastry shells, or phyllo cups. Sprinkle top with pepperica or sliced black olives. (link)
  • Ingredients
    chicken wings
    garlic
    honey
    soy souce
    Pepperika (parenthood.com)
  • “Halibut Royale”
    Ingredients:
    1.5 lbs halibut (steaks)
    1 cup white wine (I used 3/4 cup white grape juice & 1/4 cup white wine vinegar)
    2 tsp salt
    1/2 cup fine bread crumbs
    1/2 cup sour cream
    1/2 cup mayonnaise (I use light, no cholesterol mayo).
    1/4 cup minced green
    onions
    pepperika (sp?) (rec.food.cooking)

Analyzed or reported by:

A rather low-frequency eggcorn.

Both, _pepper_ and _paprika_ have evolved from Lat. _piper_; the former via West Germanic and Old English, the second via Serbo-Croatian and Hungarian. This is therefore a reinterpretation that goes back to the roots of the name of the spice.

| Comments Off link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2005/02/17 |

string » sting

Chiefly in:   no stings attached

Classification: English

Spotted in the wild:

  • When my camera got taken away at the door, due to my not being put down for a photo pass, I said, what the heck, I’ll get a T-shirt and that will make up for it. When they were out of the size I wanted at the merchandise table I gave up and decided to enjoy the concert, pure and simple, no stings attached – I propped myself up against the bar and took in the smells, sights and sounds of the Le Tigre show. (The Strand, December 4, 2003)
  • Tired of diving by yourself? […] Refer two friends to take an Open Water Diver class at the Peninsula Diving Center. After they successfully complete the class and get certified, we pay you $50 in cash - no waiting, no tricky forms - no stings attached! (Peninsula Diving Center)
  • That was very thoughtful he thought to himself. It wasn’t everyday that you got a thank you [from a rejected candidate after a job interview]. And with no stings attached. Classy! (Retail Career)

Analyzed or reported by:

There are 14,400 Google hits on English pages for _no stings attached_, and 486,000 for _no strings attached_. Many of the occurrences of the non-standard form will be typos — inadvertent slips that the authors would have caught had they proofread more carefully; it is easy to skip a single letter in a word. But a standard/non-standard ratio of 33.75 indicates intentional use in at least some of the cases. As a point of reference, the ratio for _spring_/_sping_ (with the latter often a proper name) is 421.0, and if we check the phrase _in early spring_ (which has, according to Google, about the same absolute frequency as _no strings attached_), the ratio is 2870.

There are two senses of _sting_ that would be logical here. First, in the sense “pain, distress, harm”, it is clearly preferable if human relationships are free from them. Second, if the occurrence concerns a business transaction, _sting_ in the sense of “confidence trick, swindle, cheat” is the likely concept the writer has in mind.

| Comments Off link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2005/02/16 |

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 |
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