poise » pose
Spotted in the wild:
- Faculty from many departments are advancing development of smart sensors, which are posed to make a major impact on the automotive, aerospace, and medical fields among others. (Wayne State University College of Engineering Profile)
- We have been in a evolutionary phase for the last couple of years as designs have converged, but we are posed to cross the threshold where a complete system and/or multiple processors fit on a single chip. (NSF Workshop on New Challenges and Directions for Systems Research)
- He is credited with starting the Algerian Civil War after he nullified the 1991 elections in which the Islamic Salvation Front (Front Islamique de Salut [FIS]) was posed to win. (Military Review, Mar/Apr 2003)
- Now we are posed to fight that war again and perhaps again and again, this time culturally, where the threat is fundamentalism, wherever it raises its intolerant head. (Yale Bulletin & Calendar, June 4, 2004)
- Transgender Woman Posed To Win Primary (URNotAlone, Aug 20, 2004)
- The Braves lost J.D. Drew and signed Raul Mondesi(!), and appear posed to open the season with both Mondesi and Brian Jordan in the starting outfield. (Salon, Mar 31, 2005)
1
Commentary by Andrew Troup , 2005/03/31 at 10:23 pm
(Speaking as a rank amateur) I personally would have put most of these down to spelling slips, given that the intransitive form of “posed” implies either a discretionary or involuntary (self-conscious) adoption of an image or attitude or posture.
In all of the examples except #4 and perhaps #5, it seems to me that substitution of any of the above permutations of meaning would make no sense.
Is this perhaps a similar example to “pouring over a book” (vs poring)? Whereas, say, “pawing over a book” to me is potentially an eggcorn, unless I’ve chased a red herring up the wrong end of a tree.
2
Commentary by Ben Zimmer , 2005/03/31 at 11:16 pm
In response to Andrew Troup: I don’t think there’s any requirement for an eggcorn subsitution to make perfect sense, only to make some sense. In this case, I’d say “posed to (do something)” makes a certain kind of sense, since the semantic domains of “poised” (’in a state of readiness’) and “posed” (’put/set in place’) are rather close. If “posed” is interpreted to mean something like “positioned”, then I think it makes a good deal of sense in all of the above examples — in fact, both “poised” and “positioned” may be influencing the semantic development of “posed”.
3
Commentary by Arnold Zwicky , 2005/04/01 at 5:52 am
In response to Andrew Troup’s comment re “pore” >> “pour”: see that entry in the database. For at least some people, this really is an eggcorn.