Comments on: Eggcorns http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=33 A Blog about Words and Language(s) from alphaDictionary.com Tue, 21 May 2013 19:53:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.6 By: rbeard http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=33&cpage=1#comment-118859 rbeard Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:08:30 +0000 http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=33#comment-118859 "Eggcorn" and words like it represent folk etymology (http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/folk_etymology.html), a long-standing concept in linguistics. It is just like "crayfish" becoming "craw[l]fish", replacing an unrecognized part of a word with one that is recognizable. I agree that this is different from mondegreens (reanalyses) but my point is simply that we don't need a new names for either. “Eggcorn” and words like it represent folk etymology (http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/folk_etymology.html), a long-standing concept in linguistics. It is just like “crayfish” becoming “craw[l]fish”, replacing an unrecognized part of a word with one that is recognizable. I agree that this is different from mondegreens (reanalyses) but my point is simply that we don’t need a new names for either.

]]> By: Ed http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=33&cpage=1#comment-118854 Ed Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:48:51 +0000 http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=33#comment-118854 I'm not sure why there is such confusion between an eggcorn and a mondegreen out there, because to me at least the difference is clear. A mondegreen is a mishearing or misanalysis in which the erroneous word or phrase sounds similar to the original but with a totally changed meaning. For example "They have slain the Earl of Murray, and layd him on the green" became "They have slain the Earl of Murray, and Lady Mondegreen", giving its name to the phenomenon. "Lady Mondegreen" and "Layd him on the green" only sound similar, but there is no logical link between them. An eggcorn, by contrast, sounds similar AND preserves something of the original meaning. For example, the woman who used the term "eggcorn" for "acorn" presumably did so because she believed they were named for their egg-like shape. Another one would be "preying mantis" instead of "praying mantis", as mantids are famously predatory. If she had called acorns "haycorns" that would not have been an eggcorn, because there is no logical link between the erroneous word and the object. I’m not sure why there is such confusion between an eggcorn and a mondegreen out there, because to me at least the difference is clear.

A mondegreen is a mishearing or misanalysis in which the erroneous word or phrase sounds similar to the original but with a totally changed meaning. For example “They have slain the Earl of Murray, and layd him on the green” became “They have slain the Earl of Murray, and Lady Mondegreen”, giving its name to the phenomenon. “Lady Mondegreen” and “Layd him on the green” only sound similar, but there is no logical link between them.

An eggcorn, by contrast, sounds similar AND preserves something of the original meaning. For example, the woman who used the term “eggcorn” for “acorn” presumably did so because she believed they were named for their egg-like shape. Another one would be “preying mantis” instead of “praying mantis”, as mantids are famously predatory.

If she had called acorns “haycorns” that would not have been an eggcorn, because there is no logical link between the erroneous word and the object.

]]> By: Katybr http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=33&cpage=1#comment-37240 Katybr Fri, 15 Jun 2007 02:55:31 +0000 http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=33#comment-37240 play around with it how? or are we to think up other instances where people use words wrong. Like my friend who never fails to say for all intensive purposes, then there is the lest and least confusion, Any more? Yeah my friend also thought baalzebub was beezlebub, and the last book in the Old testament? Oh that was the Italian prophet Ma LOO' chee. Katy play around with it how? or are we to think up other instances where people use words wrong. Like my friend who never fails to say for all intensive purposes, then there is the lest and least confusion, Any more? Yeah my friend also thought baalzebub was beezlebub, and the last book in the Old testament? Oh that was the Italian prophet Ma LOO’ chee.

Katy

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