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Eggcorns

Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 9:58 am
by scw1217
This website both fascinates me and drives me crazy. They are examples of the very things that I hear here in the south that drive me mad.

As an introduction, an "eggcorn" is a term applied to those turns of phrase in the English language that began as mistakes and have become more mainstream. Eggcorn itself comes from a constant mispronunciation of "acorn".

For example "to name a view" instead of "to name a few", "towed the line" instead of "toed the line", and (this one I have heard locally) "bobwire" instead of "barbed wire". This website contains both the definition of the individual eggcorns, a history of where it came from, and citations of it in print.

My question for you is, at one point do we just say, "WRONG!" (which is my inclination) instead of accepting the changes!

http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/

EGGCORNS

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:15 pm
by Dr. Goodword
Funny you should mention them: There is no better place than here to learn about eggcorns, in fact:
http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=33

Re: EGGCORNS

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 8:57 am
by scw1217
Funny you should mention them: There is no better place than here to learn about eggcorns, in fact:
http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=33
:oops: Yes, well, nevermind that I missed that whole article, good Dr., they still drive me nuts!

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 9:47 am
by skinem
Hmmmm..mispronunciation of acorn, eh?

Around here, you have an indication of where someone is from by whether they say "a-corn" or "a-crn"...

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 1:27 pm
by txmusicgirl
Hmmmm..mispronunciation of acorn, eh?

Around here, you have an indication of where someone is from by whether they say "a-corn" or "a-crn"...
I'm inclined to the latter "a-crn" I use the least number of letters when im talkin :lol:

Re: Eggcorns

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 9:05 pm
by Slava
An old thread, but here's a new article to add:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... orn-moment

I must disagree, however, with the name of this phenomenon. I cannot see how anyone would ever hear eggcorn in acorn. Those very first sounds are completely separate in my book. I can deal with egg sit, but eggcess doesn't cut it. I also think the majority of these things are actually dreamed up, not real mis-understandings.

"Excuse me while I kiss this guy" is real, I gather.

Re: Eggcorns

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 3:52 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Bobwire for barbedwire has been around in common usage in Texas and elsewhere for at least sixty years, prob longer. Isn't that long enough to qualify as a word in itself? Especially since that's the term used by farmers and ranchers who actually erect fences with the stuff?

Re: Eggcorns

Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 2:20 am
by Philip Hudson
Perry, the correct pronunciation for barbed wire in Texas is "bob woar". A computer programmer, who once worked for me (and was a very good at her job), insisted that it was "Bob Woar" because it was named fore the man who invented it.

Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 2:22 am
by Philip Hudson
Omit

Re: Eggcorns

Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 10:10 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Well sure, Phillip. Just lak firetruck be pronounced fahrtruck. The H is added for stress.