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midst » mist

Chiefly in:   in the mist of

Classification: English

Spotted in the wild:

  • “well, in the mist of all of this with [name of spouse with cancer] I had fell and hit my head…” ()

From Larry Horn, on ADS-L, 22 February 2005:

from a contributor to a cancer survivors and caretakers support group:…

Whether this was a typo for “in the midst of” or a reanalysis isn’t
entirely knowable. But since the “all of this” in the context refers
to the murky complexity of misdiagnoses, denial of coverage, etc.
etc., I suspect the “mist” is in fact a reanalysis/eggcorn.

—–

To which Jon Lighter added the invented example:

“In the mist of life we are in death.”

—–

And on Language Log:

ML, 12/8/11: Lost in the miss of eggcorns:
languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu…

| 2 comments | link | entered by Arnold Zwicky, 2005/03/15 |

catnap » catchnap

Classification: English

Spotted in the wild:

  • “Well, I can’t sleep at night. “I just catchnap through the day.” ()

Reported by Wilson Gray on ADS-L, 14 March 2005.

| Comments Off link | entered by Arnold Zwicky, 2005/03/15 |

amateur » armature

Classification: English – questionable

Spotted in the wild:

  • “I’m an armature bullfighter and that is my inspiration.” (link)
  • “I’m an armature writer. What I see isn’t ip addresses or message ID information. What I see if a little deeper.” (link)
| 6 comments | link | entered by jaknine, 2005/03/14 |

bumper to bumper » bumpetta-bumpetta

Classification: English – /r/-dropping

Spotted in the wild:

  • The traffic was bumpetta-bumpetta on the freeway. ()
| Comments Off link | entered by MMMkeee, 2005/03/10 |

might » mine

Chiefly in:   mine as well

Classification: English

Spotted in the wild:

  • “well i guess i mine as well give up as this is looking hopeless.” (link)
  • “you mine as well face it, you’re addicted to us.” (link)

See also minus well.

| Comments Off link | entered by Ben Zimmer, 2005/03/10 |
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