doe » dough

Chiefly in:   dough-eyed

Classification: English

Spotted in the wild:

  • Picture this: a portly, dough-eyed, flaxen-haired lad making his screen debut in the horrific 1989 remake of “Lord of the Flies”. (espn.com sports, (cached) March 8, 2005)
  • Do you know what it’s like to be shy? To’ve been told that when you’re shy you miss out? And to’ve been told there are plenty of people my age who are not innocent and that I’m innocent, very dough-eyed. (Personal journal, May 12, 2007)
  • Gordon Brown is very dough eyed when it comes to family……..and the system reflects that. (Stormfront forum, April 10, 2006)

Analyzed or reported by:

This reshaping was first posted briefly in the an Eggcorn forum post by Lisa in April 2007 and then fully documented and discussed 5 months later. The thread that developed contains some speculation (and bafflement) about the underlying image.

I imagine that if the animal reference _doe_ remains obscure and is replaced with _dough_ the idea might well be that of indistinct and not-yet-fully-formed softness, fitting with categories such as innocence and naivete.

| Comments Off link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2008/08/25 |

utmost » upmost

Variant(s):  up most, up-most

Classification: English – nearly mainstream

Spotted in the wild:

  • It will give comfort to would-be euro counterfeiters in the 11 nations adopting the new coins and notes from January 1 2002, and is likely to embarrass the European commission and the European central bank, both keen to be seen to be doing their upmost to guard against the risk of fraud. (Andrew Osborn in The Guardian, Aug 30, 2000)
  • The important thing was that both teams truly captured the Olympic spirit in fighting for supremacy for every second of the match, but displaying the upmost respect for each other after the final whistle. (Allon Sinai in The Jerusalem Post, Aug 24, 2008)
  • Looking ahead to the game Head Coach, Shaun Edwards, said, “We have the up most respect for our opponents Edinburgh and we will be taking a strong team up there on Saturday ready for a highly competitive game. […]” (lions-tour.com, Aug 22, 2008)
  • The Sportsplex does the upmost best to offer programs that are requested by the community such as the Hockey School, Ladies Hockey School and Power Skating and so forth. (Clearwater Times (BCLocalNews.com), Aug 18, 2008)
  • Our games are always changing and are all designed to provide the upmost of fun. (Stourbridge News, Aug 21, 2008)

Analyzed or reported by:

The substitution of “up” for the opaque “ut” in _utmost_ has been pointed out numerous times.

The Eggcorn Forum poster Russell analyses:

> [The constituent “ut”] is liable to reanalysis to something that more transparently expresses superlative meaning, such as up+most (‘uppermost’), which fits with the MORE IS UP-type metaphor. This may also involve anticipatory assimilation to the nasal in “most”.

A Google search shows very large numbers of hits, from both sides of the Atlantic (and Australia, too). All the above cites are taken from searches restricted to news outlets, and most are very recent, which justifies the “nearly mainstream” classification.

| Comments Off link | entered by Chris W. (admin), 2008/08/24 |

leper » leopard

Chiefly in:   social leopard

Classification: English

Spotted in the wild:

  • Yes make sure your child becomes a social leopard and a complete idiot, because you have some unsubstantiated fear that they will go to hell. (Yahoo! Answers, Aug 2008 (approx.))
  • People who have been adopted or are in foster care should not be treated as a social leopard. (Search Your Love online dating, article, Aug 29, 2007)

Analyzed or reported by:

This is a rather low-frequency eggcorn. The mixed form “social lepard” is found, too:

> _You didn’t know what you wanted to wear. Nothing from Hottopic though unless you wanted to be a social lepard._ (link)

See also: social morays.

| Comments Off link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2008/08/24 |

lymph » limp

Chiefly in:   limp edema

Classification: English

Spotted in the wild:

Analyzed or reported by:

Another medical eggcorn. Not very common, but it made past the proofreaders of a WHO report.

| Comments Off link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2008/08/12 |

Via Dolorosa » Via de la Rosa

Classification: English – cross-language

Spotted in the wild:

  • I remember walking through Jerusalem with him as we absorbed the aromas of the streets, down the Via de la Rosa we went. (Search Light Ministries newsletter, 2004)
  • Red roses did not line the Villa de la Rosa as Jesus walked the streets to Calvary; Hearts and balloons did not display a welcoming for this mighty King, He bore thorns of injustice, hate, and sin upon His brow. (Swampland.com)
  • At Nazareth, Jesus was unable to do all that He would have wanted. And on that terrible and glorious day when He walked the Via De La Rosa, He cried out to a city that He wanted to Save, but “you would not have it”… (The Bible NETWork, Aug 23, 2006)
  • For Palestinians of Jerusalem, getting a personal ID, which ought to be a simple affair, has become the new via de la Rosa. (Counterpunch, August 9, 2003)

Analyzed or reported by:

Wikipedia explains:

> Whereas the names of many roads in Jerusalem are translated into English, Hebrew, and Arabic for their signs, the name Via Dolorosa is used in all three languages.

The link between the crucifixion of Jesus and roses is not quite clear to me, but appears to exist in the minds of some writers who are unclear about the sense of “dolorosa”, creating an Italian or Spanish sounding eggcorn from the Latin.

| Comments Off link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2008/07/31 |