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jaw » jar

Chiefly in:   jar-dropping

Classification: English – cot/caught merger

Spotted in the wild:

  • Cameron’s decision that for now she just wants to have sex with the guy she “did” before when she was on drugs was just a jar-dropper. And it was perfectly deliviered. In short: “Wanna f**k?” […] As I said: An absolute classic considering the laughs, awkward moments and jar-droppers! (Polite Dissent, Review of "House", Episode 14 (Season Three), Feb 13, 2007)
  • Plus, an equally jar-dropping flashback to Hatsumi’s tiny-tot days that throws new light on how the veritable train wreck of her life got started. (eMerchandise, Review of "Hot Gimmick", Vol. 8)
  • Now go download this jar dropping trailer! (Breed Files gaming forum, Aug 07, 2002)
  • I know I don’t post much, I am a huge AA fan too, but I have been watching alot of Pride and alot UFC, and my eyes are open now, Pride is by far better, watching fights with pride is jar-dropping, UFC has become boring as hell, all of the buildup and then have lackluster fights. (Sherdog mixed martial arts forum, July 12, 2006)

Analyzed or reported by:

In the ADS-L thread, Mark Peters calls this eggcorn “one of the most logical [he] can remember”.

The spelling of body parts is taught from the beginning of elementary school onwards, and it is therefore unlikely writers who use “jar-dropping” instead of “jaw-dropping” are simply misspelling “jaw”.

Still, a measure of caution might be advisable, given that there are a number of cites similar to

> _I went straight to their site and my jar dropped._ (link)
> _Charley’s jar dropped._ (link)
> _I lost count of how many times my jar dropped as I listened._ (link)

| Comments Off link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2007/09/15 |

nautical » knotical

Chiefly in:   knotical mile

Classification: English – cot/caught merger

Spotted in the wild:

  • The head winds and waves immediately knocked my headway to 5.5 knots, and the tide was running about 4 knots in the deep water. I ran my math. At 1.5 knots to the good, 5 knotical miles is 3.3 hours. Holy smokes. (hpv-boats mailing list, Jun 17, 2002)
  • Approximately 27,500 ships are used to carry the production of 1.33 million tons of fishing products including the offshore fishery on the waters within the economic zones of the territory, i.e., 12 knotical miles to 200 knotical miles from the coast by means of powered vessels. (American Chronicle, Aug 20, 2007)
  • The only thing I stand by the English system is the knotical mile, and that is STILL used on every ship on the sea to this day. (Tiki Central Forums, Nov 15, 2003)
  • With a 160-knot cruise speed and an 800-knotical-mile range, the SR20 is a great cross-country aircraft. (according to avweb.com:, Cirrus Design ad in FLYING magazine, August 1998, p. 15)
  • Knotical knots of gold links rope around to a toggle closure. (jewelery description)

Analyzed or reported by:

It stands to reason that travelling at a speed of 1 knot for an hour, you would cover a distance of 1 knotical mile. Right?

Or to cite Ken Lakritz from his forum post:

> A nautical mile is 1852 meters. A knot is 1 nautical mile per hour. There’s no such thing as a knotical mile.

(_Knotical knot_ appears to be mostly used in jest; it is just too redundant not to give rise for suspicion that something might be wrong about the spelling.)

| Comments Off link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2007/09/13 |

ulterior » alterior

Chiefly in:   alterior motive

Classification: English

Spotted in the wild:

  • Is there an alterior motive behind a woman’s actions? (Blogcity post title, 10 September 2006)
  • While the 31-year-old’s performance went well, Calwell confessed to having an alterior motive. “The event is really a stepping stone for me. Obviously, the triathlon season is my main goal. I am using this to prepare for the Contact Energy Cup starting in November.” (Rotura Daily Post (NZ), Sep 10, 2007)
  • Anyway, IBM has alterior motives here. (Guardian Games Blog, Keith Stuart, June 18, 2007)
  • Nobody seems able to give any possible alterior use this or a future government could put the database to that has even a theoretical basis in reality. (Guardian Unlimited, Reader comment, Sep 8, 2007)

Analyzed or reported by:

With the borrowing of words and phrases from other languages, English speakers have developed intuitions about the meaning of foreign roots. “Alternative”, “alter ego” etc. are sufficiently frequent to link _alter-_ to the sense “other”, and make _alter-_ more transparent than _ulter-/ultra_. (Note that the original sense “the other of two” has been largely obscured: the use of _alternative_ is a common entry in usage advice guides not only in English, but also in French and German, and probably in other languages.)

In the forum thread, poster booboo also noted a further development to _alternative motive_.

| Comments Off link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2007/09/13 |
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