Tuesday, July 12, 2011

THESE WORK FOR ALL INTENSIVE PURPOSES: I learned a new word yesterday: "eggcorn". Says Wiki, it's "an idiosyncratic substitution of a word or phrase for a word or words that sound similar or identical in the speaker's dialect. The new phrase introduces a meaning that is different from the original, but plausible in the same context, such as 'old-timers' disease' for 'Alzheimer's disease'. This is as opposed to a malapropism, where the substitution creates a nonsensical phrase."

Other examples include "bold-faced lie", "collaborating evidence", "throws of passion" and "in lame man's terms," and because there is an internet hundreds more have been collected.

4 comments:

  1. This, of course, makes me think of Joey Tribbiani's classic analysis of the term "moo point."  "It's like a cow's opinion.  It doesn't matter.  It's moo."

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  2. isaac_spaceman10:26 AM

    Here, here. 

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  3. Jenn C11:29 AM

    it's a doggy-dog world!  (that is my most favorite episode of Modern Family ever)

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  4. Benner4:48 PM

    Well, who made these people Judge, Judy and Executioner of what is or is not proper English usage?

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