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washboard » dashboard

Chiefly in:   dashboard stomach

Classification: English – questionable

Spotted in the wild:

  • “Guy: Nah, I’m trying to get that six pack for summer. I’m not going for the dashboard stomach or anything. Besides, the dashboard on my car isn’t looking too good, ya know? “ (link)
  • “… three times and I have the soundtrack, I loved Timeline too (can you say dashboard stomach?) hahaha he is one of the most handsome men I´ve ever seen…” (link)

Analyzed or reported by:

  • David Fenton (e-mail of 16 June 2005)

Fenton supplied the first cite from the New York Times of 15 June 2005, in the “Overheard in New York” column; Fenton remarked that it seemed self-aware, in the sense that the speaker seemed to realize there was some oddity in the expression. The other, about actor/singer Gerard Butler, is the only (genuine) one I could find by googling. Can two swallows an eggcorn summer make?

| 2 comments | link | entered by Arnold Zwicky, 2005/06/16 |

roller coaster » roll-a-coaster

Variant(s):  rollacoaster

Classification: English

Spotted in the wild:

  • “Thanks for the saga advise. I will take you words to treatment with me tomorrow. I’m sure it will be a roll-a-coaster, but I don’t intend to let it throw me off.” (Posting to a cancer e-mail list, as reported by Horn)
  • “SO CONFUSED, I AM ON A ROLLACOASTER RIDE … and I feel like I am on a rollacoaster which I have said that to him, and he tells me the other day that he …” (link)
  • “In this episode of “Reading Rainbow,” Levar goes to the amusement park and rides the roll-a-coaster.” (link)

Analyzed or reported by:

  • Larry Horn (American Dialect Society mailing list, 12 June 2005)

Horn wrote:

The “saga” is quite possibly a typo, the “advise” a simple misspelling that I suspect I’ve encountered in students’ papers. But
the “roll-a-coaster” is the interesting one, and not novel or unique to this writer. Google has 411 hits, some literal, some ‘emotional’.

| 1 comment | link | entered by Arnold Zwicky, 2005/06/15 |

beg » beckon

Chiefly in:   beckon the question

Classification: English

Spotted in the wild:

  • I guess this beckons the question: will anyone ever be able to compete with eBay? (Fat Wallet forums, Mar. 26, 2005)
  • This beckons the question: Why do minorities need affirmative action in the first place? (Ohio University Post, Jan. 27, 2003)
  • Numerous case studies of child fatalities involving faith healing and Christian Science, a specific branch of spiritual healing, beckons the following question: just how effective is this approach? (Issues: Berkeley Medical Journal, Fall 1998)

Analyzed or reported by:

A common pet peeve is the use of the expression begs the question to mean ‘prompts the question,’ rather than its original sense relating to the logical fallacy of assuming the very point one is trying to prove. As contributors to the alt.usage.english thread have noted, replacing beg with beckon in some ways salvages this expression by bringing it in line with what is actually meant.

| 1 comment | link | entered by Ben Zimmer, 2005/06/11 |

Nobel laureate » Nobeloriate

Classification: English – questionable

Spotted in the wild:

  • Raould Hoffmann (2 time Nobeloriate in theoretical chemistry) said: “The vast majority of great things comes not in one flash of progress, but the accumulation of small things”. (link)
  • I can now say I’ve met a Nobeloriate! (link)
  • That series is one that you’ve just had a discussion about, the Handbook of Economics and is edited by a nobeloriate. (link)

Analyzed or reported by:

The phrase “Nobel laureate” has also spawned such contracted forms as Nobelaureate and Nobelauriate — these are perhaps modeled on the single-word _baccalaureate_. The respelling of _Nobeloriate_ makes this variant a bit more eggcorny, as it seems to be influenced by forms like _professoriate_ (also reminiscent of _secretariat_, _proletariat_, _commissariat_, etc.?).

| 1 comment | link | entered by Ben Zimmer, 2005/06/10 |

clink » cling

Chiefly in:   cling and clatter

Classification: English – questionable

Spotted in the wild:

  • …All this cling and clatter in my head, And what you said Is ringing, ringing faster (The song, 'Cling and Clatter', by the band Lifehouse)
  • “The cling and clatter of coffee cups and the chattering customers drowned out the sound of Michael Van London’s soft and delicate voice” (The Tech Talk Online)

It seems to have been propagated by the Lifehouse song. The original eggcorning might have resulted from the onomatopoeic quality of ‘cling’ to describe the similarly onomatopoeic ‘clink’, or perhaps, ‘clang.’ In addition, seeing that it was juxtaposed with ‘clatter’, the songwriters might have gravitated towards not using the same ‘a’ vowel sound (assuming they meant ‘clang.’)

ausgeflippt on livejournal further suggests:
“Though cling only has the meaning of “adhere to”, it’s not too far-fetched for this expression because it’s a derivative of the the German verb “klingeln”, which means to ring, to sound.”

| 1 comment | link | entered by Sravana Reddy, 2005/06/09 |
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