Language Liberalism Freethought Birds
Verbing Weirds Language only if you're expecting it to work in a simple way. This is a special case of the more general truth that Language Weirds.
Only when a republic's life is in danger should a man uphold his government when it is in the wrong. There is no other time.
The church says Earth is flat; but I have seen its shadow on the moon, and I have more confidence in a shadow than the church.
If we can't find Heaven, there are always bluejays.
Ran across this in a comment at Language Hat:
If only my brain didn't cease up in the bookshops and make it nearly impossible for me to chose anything.On the whole, I think it's an eggcorn: a nice reanalysis of an unfamiliar phrase. (Plus, of course, it's quite a few letters off the original.)
Labels: language
I used to teach Russian and Ukrainian, and some basic English, to civil servants. Now I teach Russian at a local continued-learning institute. I dabble in Gaelic and Welsh. I'm am amateur photographer and I love birding (in a small way). I'm a Progressive, and a Freethinker, and I know Evolution is a fact - that's FCD, Friend of Charles Darwin (look down the sidebar). I read a lot, and follow women's college basketball. Also I love astronomy, though I'm a rank amateur at it. Most of all, I like living in the reality-based community...
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3 Comments:
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At 6:06 PM, January 12, 2010
Barry Leiba had this to say...
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At 7:40 PM, January 12, 2010
The Ridger, FCD had this to say...
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At 1:12 PM, January 14, 2010
Stan had this to say...
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<-- Older Post ^ Home Newer Post -->Well, it's clearly not a typo[graphical error]. It could be what I like to call a "braino[graphical error]", or it could be intentionally playing with words.
So:
1. Was it intentional, or did the writer just make a mistake and use the wrong word?
2. If the latter, was it an "oops" substitution, or does the writer really not know the correct phrase?
3. Does the result seem clever, or just silly or stupid? As I see it, "He drove rite by the store," is just stupid, but "He drove rite by the wedding," could be thought clever.
And then...
4. To have a proper "eggcorn", what range of answers above fit?
Some think it's an eggcorn whenever someone makes a like-sounding substitution. To me, it has to be intentional, and at least attempting to be clever, witty, or some such (as in the "wedding" example). Otherwise, every moron who writes, "They let me use there car," could claim eggcornality.
From mighty oxen, little eggcorns grow.
No, no. Eggcorns are NOT intentional, that's what makes them eggcorns. Or rather, they're not intentional wordplay. They're an attempt to make sense of something you've heard. They're very often not humorous at all.
"Cease up" conveys much the same meaning as "seize up", in the above context at least, but it sounds much gentler — as though the brain were throwing its hands up in resignation rather than throwing a violent fit.
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