so to speak » sort of speak
Spotted in the wild:
- You don’t need a plane ticket or passage on the QE2…cause, right beside the bar there’s an old IBM PS/2, as ancient and weather worn as Dan, hooked up to the Internet. Inter-Island Communications and Wireless guarantee’s a connection every time or you get a cool rum swizzle at Dockside with their compliments. User’s have been known to intentionally pull the plug sort of speak, just to get a free drink! (link)
- Not because I really believed it myself, but because it paid off, sort of speak. I believe I was afraid of loosing her, if I didn’t sympathize with her. … (link)
- Email I think Im Back Who has figured out a way to display a third persone view of things(sort of speak). It’s simple enough to … (link)
- I still go thru withdrawals while doing this but I’m just biteing the bullet sort of speak. the doctor told … (link)
- I haven’t written a nything in a long time about Pokémon, so I thought I would come out with a three part “saga”, sort of speak, which will include my take … (link)
The examples above were supplied to me in e-mail by Laura Whitton on 12 March 2005. The eggcorn was already noted on this site by astarte93, in a comment on the “eggcorn” entry itself.
Certainly a reanalysis, in several senses, though it’s hard to see “sort of speak” as an improvement on “so to speak”. It could have arisen in a mishearing and then spread.
(And note the verb “loosing” in the “not because I really believed it myself” cite. See the entry on “loose”.)
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