Eggcorn

In linguistics, an eggcorn is an idiosyncratic substitution of a word or phrase for a word or words that sound similar or identical in the speaker's dialect. Characteristic of the eggcorn is that the new phrase makes sense on some level ("old-timer's disease" for "Alzheimer's disease"). Eggcorns often involve replacing an unfamiliar, archaic, or obscure word with a more common or modern word ("baited breath" for "bated breath").

The term "eggcorn" was coined by Geoffrey Pullum in September 2003, in response to an article by Mark Liberman on the website Language Log, a blog for linguists. Liberman discussed the case of a woman who substitutes the phrase egg corn for the word acorn, arguing that the precise phenomenon lacked a name; Pullum suggested using "eggcorn" itself.

While there are several similar classes of linguistic deviation which have been recognised for longer, Liberman argues that the original "egg corn" does not fit any of them:

• It is not a folk etymology: it is an error made by one person instead of a community.
• It is not a malapropism: egg corn and acorn are homophonous in the dialect in question.
• It is not a mondegreen: it is an error of misinterpretation from common speech and does not acquire a new meaning.

Examples

• a nominal egg instead of an arm and a leg
• beckoned call instead of beck and call
• butt naked instead of buck naked
• chomp at the bit instead of champ at the bit
• court marshal instead of court martial (similarly marshal law)
• deep-seeded instead of deep-seated
• deformation of character instead of defamation of character
• doggy-dog world instead of dog-eat-dog world
• for all intensive purposes instead of for all intents and purposes
• fork handles instead of four candles (The two ronnies)
• free reign instead of free rein
• hair-brained instead of 'hare-brained
• heart wrenching instead of heart rending
• hone in instead of home in
• hunger pains instead of hunger pangs
• ivy tower instead of ivory tower
• lambash or lamblast instead of lambaste
• low and behold instead of lo and behold
• mute point instead of moot point
• next store instead of next door
• on the spurt [or sperm] of the moment instead of on the spur of the moment
• morphodite for hermaphrodite (in To Kill A Mockingbird)
• nip it in the butt instead of nip it in the bud
• pier-to-pier network instead of peer-to-peer network
• pigment of the imagination instead of figment of the imagination
• pour over instead of pore over
• preying mantis instead of praying mantis or praying mantid (only some mantids belong to the genus Mantis)
• reeking havoc instead of wreaking havoc
• shoe-fly instead of shoo fly
• shoe in instead of shoo-in
• strikes accord or strikes a cord instead of strikes a chord
• assorted past instead of a sordid past
• sparrowgrass for asparagus
• sperm of Satan for spawn of Satan (e.g Paula Yates to Ian Hislop on Have I Got News For You)
• splashy instead of plashy
• take it for granite instead of take it for granted
• tenderhooks instead of tenterhooks
• throws instead of throes
• tow the line instead of toe the line
• the smorning instead of this morning
• Wallah! instead of voila!
• without further adieu instead of without further ado

External links

• Eggcorn database
• Mark Liberman's September 23 2003 entry on Language Log - First introduction of eggcorns on the internet.
• Michael Quinion on the eggcorn on Centrifical Discussion of an eggcorn and the definition
• Metaforix@ A discussion of the phenomenon and some examples.
• Psychology Today: Word Watch: The Eggcorn; A funny little poem and symptom of human intelligence and creativity.
• NPR: How the Web Is Changing Language
• Chronicle of Higher Education: "Like a Bowl in a China Shop". Article by Mark Peters on eggcorns and teaching writing.

References

• Yours sins nearly, New Scientist, 23 September 2006, S. 21. Abgerufen am 21. Dezember 2006  Letters to the Editor in response to an Opinion piece on eggcorns.
• Liberman, Mark, and Geoffrey K. Pullum. Far from the Madding Gerund and Other Dispatches from Language Log. Wilsonville, OR: William, James & Co., 2006.