Eggcorns

[lillibet]

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, an eggcorn is a non-standard reshaping of a familiar word or phrase. The word comes from someone's attempt to spell "acorn".

I love these. Or maybe I hate them--it's so hard to know. They drive me crazy and are one of the things that will cause me to hurl a book across a room. And yet I collect them and ponder them and glory in The Eggcorn Database. I think what I like about them is that frequently they would be very funny if used ironically: a rye sense of humor is just what W.C. Fields had and I've certainly watched examples of women using their feminine wilds.

This week I've read the phrase "make due" three times.

Comments

[bedfull-o-books.livejournal.com]

My co-worker told me about a friend of hers who used the term "take it for granite" and didn't believe it when she was told that it wasn't correct. Had an explanation and everything (granite is solid, you see....)

I, too, am torn. I prefer them in a database. They drive me crazy "in the wild"....

[moria923.livejournal.com]

I like "taken for granite". It makes sense.

[fanw.livejournal.com]

My favorite recent eggcorn was a student last year describing the med school application process. He called it a "crap chute". Totally different meaning and yet unintentionally accurate!

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

LOL! That's quite apt, isn't it?

I wonder if eggcorns are more common now. I'm thinking about how fewer people read and much people listen to media now.

[muffyjo]

Wow. On one hand, I'm eagerly amused to see them collected. On the other, I'm groaning loudly on the inside from the sheer multitude. My inner OCD child is desperate to edit them all!

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

When I was a child, I often suffered from stomach eggs.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

Gene Wolfe has a book titled Citadel of the Autarch.

His agent apparently presented it to the publisher as Castle of the Otter.

[goat.livejournal.com]

Just saw this one, and wanted to share: Shabby Sheik