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Chris -- 2018-04-11

#1 2007-02-18 21:17:28

patschwieterman
Administrator
From: California
Registered: 2005-10-25
Posts: 1680

"guilty of purgery"

“Purgery” sounds like something that should be done in a bathroom. I think “surgery” might be providing a template for this spelling variant of “perjury.” I can’t find a way of justifying this as an eggcorn. Nevertheless, there really is a word “purgery” in English; The Free Dictionary gives the following definition:

The part of a sugarhouse where the molasses is drained off from the sugar.

Examples of the misspelling:

It is also illegal (purgery) to lie to congress.
http://www.japantoday.com/us/news/23133

It was recently pointed out to me by a German that, to deny the holocaust is as if you are on the courts witness stand and you committ purgery in a trial, thats why the assailant was jailed.
http://www.toytowngermany.com/lofi/inde … 59715.html

More importantly, he committed purgery, he broke the law. If you or I had gone to court and lied or lied to a grand jury like he did, we would both be still sitting in jail.
http://www.veryopinionated.com/archives … exton.html

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#2 2021-06-21 14:12:04

DavidTuggy
Eggcornista
From: Mexico
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 2714
Website

Re: "guilty of purgery"

Pat sees this as a non-eggcorn “spelling variant” and he may well be right. I found examples like the following published report, where the repetition indicates it was probably standard for the writer as well as acceptable to the editor (if there was one):

[Name], who owns 43 percent of the Brookville El Reparo and 50 percent of the Liberty location, was initially charged with 18 felony counts, including […] one count of purgery (F6); one count of conspiracy to commit purgery; one count of forgery (F6); one count of
conspiracy to commit human trafficking (F5); […]


and there is an eggcornishly motivated Urban Dictionary definition for it:

False statements made in an attempt to “wipe the slate clean”. Bill Clinton was obviously “Gil T. Azell” of fooling around with Monica Blewisnky—- not to mention lying about it afterwards […]—- yet he was able to get off scot-free when investigated by Congress—- sounds like a case of major purgery to me!)

A high proportion of lies fit that characterization―all “defensive” lies, probably, which of course are the predominant kind by defendants in court cases. In any case, the same reasoning that lies behind this punning, tongue-in-cheek definition might well lie behind more sincere, standardized, usages, and that would constitute an eggcorn.
.
There are also a number of cases of purger yourself :

The president’s lawyers are afraid that he won’t have the discipline to not purger himself by testifying to Mueller. Our president is a serial liar …

Idiot: Sally Yates shouldn’t testify, she has an axe to grind and is unreliable…. Me: Well, let her testify and purger herself then if that is the case …

In at least one case purger is used for purge in a similarly accusatory context but to uncertain effect:

Removing / purgering voter roles to clear out ineligible voters will destroy the DEMs strategy to cheat in future elections, of course they would pushback 100%.

(The writer is accusing those who oppose the “purgering”, i.e. “the DEMs”, of cheating by accusing of a crime ―perhaps the crime of purgery―, those wishing to clean up the voter rolls. Or is it the fraudulent ―lying, perjurious?― assignment of the role of a voter to someone ineligible that constitutes the cheating, in which case the purgering might be a good thing? It all gets complicated!)
.
Fraudgery is similar in a couple of ways.

Last edited by DavidTuggy (2021-06-25 07:10:20)


*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .

(Possible Corollary: it is, and we are .)

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#3 2021-07-21 14:17:42

DavidTuggy
Eggcornista
From: Mexico
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 2714
Website

Re: "guilty of purgery"

Peter’s perjorative purview is worth persuance or persual (or perusal or whatever it is) as well.


*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .

(Possible Corollary: it is, and we are .)

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