The Eggcorn Database - v. 0.5

Spotted in the wild:

• I agree. Do Japan a favour. Abolish eikaiwa losers and parasite JETS. Bring in professional standards and help purge Japan of pidgeon english by ensuring competent educators with real qualifications. (link)
• i have tried online translators but the pidgeon english it spits out doesn’t make sense. (link)
• His awkward manner, pidgeon French, and wanderlust keep him from settling down. (link)

Spotted in the wild:

• Glaring suspiciously at Ron, Professor McGonagall pushed the portrait back open and went outside. The whole common room listened with baited breath. (J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Bloomsbury, London, 1999, p. 291)
• A big gain in the 2006 runs for gubernatorial and congressional seats will bolster the confidence of Democrats, but I’m sure they remember the obvious in America: Democratic Congress, Republican President… and vice versa. So, with the baited breath of Wiley Coyotes, they pore over blueprints of probability as they seek troubleshooting, eight-ball candidates – the whole exciting miasma of an ultimate victory for the UN’s New World Order. (Enter Stage Right, January 31, 2005)
• NASA boffins are this week watching satellite images with baited breath to see what will happen when an iceberg smashes into a glacier in Antartica. (The Sun, February 9, 2005)
• While everyone waits with baited breath, to see if Terrell Owens’ Willis Reed impression is enough to inspire his Philadelphia Eagles teammates to victory over the heavily-favored New England Patriots in today’s Super Bowl, other games are being played in the NFL. (WEBCommentary, February 6, 2005)
• Conference chief executive John Moules told BBC Sport: “It could affect us and we’re waiting with baited breath.” (BBC Sport, 2 February, 2005)

Spotted in the wild:

• This weekend, the WireX research team entered an Immunix server into the DefCon Capture the Flag games, in which each of the teams try to hack each other’s servers, while simultaneously defending their own server. The executive summary is that we placed 2nd, coming withing a hare’s breadth of winning the contest, and the Immunix server was never captured. (link)
• The notion that a computer program can be arbitrarily classified as a “munition” and thus fall under export control is a slippery slope. It’s only a hare’s breadth from the notion that these “munitions” should entail mandatory registration and “7 day waiting periods” and ultimately be banned entirely from domestic use. It’ll all start with populist phrases like: “protect the children from child pornography” and “only drug dealers and mobsters have secrets to hide from us” (link)
• Johnno and Rowie fly through a heavy storm and the pilot has difficulty keeping the plane in the air. The realisation that they have escaped death by a hare’s breadth makes Johnno think about his future and the values in his life. (link)
• Delightful classic transports young readers to the timeless world of the Green Forest, where Peter discovers the folly of changing his name, outwits the ever-hungry Reddy Fox, manages a number of hare’s-breadth escapes, and makes an ill-advised decision to hibernate. (Home School Source, book summary)

Spotted in the wild:

• A poorly made soldered joint for example may appear to be satisfactory at the fill pressure, and detection will only be possible if the pressure is raised. Such a joint is often said to be ‘hanging by a hare’s breath’, and needs additional pressure to expose the fault. (Marley Plumbing and Drainage)
• OPEC increased its estimate for demand for its oil by around 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 28.7 million bpd for the first quarter, and to 28.5 million bpd for the rest of the year. This is a hare’s breath short of the 29 million bpd average the cartel produced last year, but even that figure is likely to be a conservative estimate. (Daily Star, January 24, 2005)
• Putting Freight Customers First has been our goal since our first five-year lease with the West Virginia State Rail Authority. Reliable and responsive freight hauling has been restored to a line that was within a hare’s breath of abandonment. (railroaddata.com)
• This is the point where he will make his first realistic offer. If you still think the price is too high then reciprocate with your final counter offer and see if he budges. Make it just a hare’s breath higher than your original offer and gauge his reaction. (Cruise Guide: How to bargain?)

Spotted in the wild:

• While visiting Iowa in 1893, the Czech composer Anton Devorak hears the song of a scarlet teenager and is inspired to create a new piece of music. (Arizona Arts Education Resources)
• The Nature Conservancy’s 15-year old Kern River Preserve is part of one of the largest remaining cottonwood-willow riparian forest in California. The 1’100 acre preserve is home to several rare species including the willow flycatcher, the summer teenager and yellow-billed cuckoo. (link)