amateur » amature
The prefix ‘a’ could come across as a negation, so ‘amature’ is ‘not mature.’
The Eggcorn Database - v. 0.5
skim » skin
Spotted in the wild:
- Blend soft fruit like bananas, strawberries or canned fruit with skin milk, yogurt and ice for a frothy fruit smoothie. (link)
- Now if it’s protein you are going for here are the values in my fridge: skin milk 8.8g; cottage cheese 15g; ricotta cheese 7.8g.. (link)
- According to Motil, the women who breastfed their infants chose diets that contained an average of 500 calories and 30 to 35 grams of protein more per day than their non-breastfeeding counterparts, or the equivalent of a turkey sandwich, piece of fruit, and a glass of skin milk per day. (link)
- A ½ cup serving is approximately equal to ½ low-fat milk exchange when made with water and one low-fat milk exchange when made with skin milk. (link)
- Dairy products: Low-fat (1%) or skin milk, low-fat or nonfat yogurt and cheeses (such as mozzarella, cottage cheese, farmer’s cheese, and ricotta), sherbet, frozen low-fat yogurt, ice milk. (link)
Analyzed or reported by:
- commenter Ken Lakritz (on this site)
As Ken Lakritz points out, the deletion of the final /d/ that produced _skim milk_ from _skimmed milk_ is not an eggcorn, but a common process, which produced, for example, _ice cream_ from the original _iced cream_.
hand » hat
Spotted in the wild:
- I’m ready to breakout some feathers and beading needles and try my hat at making avian-inspired accessories! (link)
- The boys caught glimpse of a mako feeding on the carcass so they tried their hat at baiting hook (with swordfish meat of course) and set about trying to feed the mako. (link)
- First up, married participants Tracy and John try their hat at performing for the lens. Note: The participants perform naked. CW. (link)
Analyzed or reported by:
- commenter Chris Clark (on this site)
An idiom-related eggcorn that probably involves a [blend](itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/l…) with _wear one’s X hat_.
spout » sprout
Spotted in the wild:
- Kerry would have probably been quite similar to Bush but that added varnish of diplomacy would have allowed European leaders to keep sprouting their nonsense about significant similarities between us and the majority of Americans (commenter on the Guardian Newsblog)
- She chuckled as she realized she was practically sprouting health class claptrap. (link)
- This spiffy commentary page is powered by my wildlink database engine and should let me be able to sprout whatever random rants I come up with! (link)
- That drape of ire blinded her from his warmth and she sprouted words of complete gibberish. (link)
Analyzed or reported by:
- commenter Adrian (on this site)
spayed » spade
Spotted in the wild:
- My female spade cat has a problem peeing on my bath rugs. (link)
- There is an unspade male cat that: #1: has sprayed my house and my property #2: has killed animals that we feed like chipmunks and birds THE OWNER SHOULD PLEASE TAKE ACTION! (link)
- Gentle observation, beautifully drawn characters - I still cant quite beleive that a portrayal of a recently spade cat could be such great comedy material, (link)
- My Vera is spade. That’s right, spade. […] First off, I was completely unaware that once a female cat has been spade they still engage in lusty encounters with males. (rec.pets.cats.anecdotes)
Analyzed or reported by:
- Laurence Horn (on ADS-L)
Marked as “questionable” because the link between the procedure and the digging implement is rather unclear. Still, on the ADS-L mailing list, Johnathan Lighter [notes](listserv.linguistlist.org…):
> [W]hen I first heard the word “spayed” as a child, the only sense I could make out of it was that they used a tiny spade (a sharp instrument) to do it.
>
> Presumably, others have been similarly misled.
A minority among cat (and to a lesser degree dog) owners appear to have a verb _spade_ in their vocabulary, the past participle of which can also show up as _spaded_, and a noun _spade_ (and sometimes a nominalised form _spading_):
* Our other cat just got spaded yesterday and she was up on her hind legs yowling and weaving looking at the other side of the water heater. ([link](homesteadingtoday.com/vb/…))
* Do you have any idea how many poor kitties get gased? Spade and neutering works but these supposed cat lovers let them breed like rats ([link](www.atsnn.com/story/12500…))
* So,in my usual blunt manner I wrote her back to send money earmarked for cat neutering/ spading and we would do just that. ([link](www.geocities.com/hermit3…))