Unabashedly Bookish

[#1]

Last week we looked at just deserts and desserts, then and than, and more. Are you waiting with baited breath for this week's discussion? What are you, a cat? Read on - more will be revealed!

First off, solution to the mystery word: An eggcorn is a word that is substituted for another similary spelled or pronouced and sematically sensible word, in error, in a common phrase. The word eggcorn was coined by linguist Mark Liberman in a specific Language Log post in September 2003.

Hmm. "Similarly spelled or pronounced but semantically sensible": What does that mean? They are spelling errors that can make sense.

Let's look at "baited breath" and "bated breath." The second phrase, "bated," meaning "held back" (think "abated" ) is correct, but a reader could make up a fairly plausible argument for the first.  Mightn't a cat "bait" its breath? One could imagine a sly feline having a slice of Swiss, then breathing enticingly at a mouse.  One can easily see how such confusion occurs. (Note: My cat eats cheese all the time, but not because she ever needs to catch a mouse for dinner; instead, her besotted owner gladly hands over the mozzarella at her demand. I often wonder what kind of cat karma gets you reborn as an editor's cat. Wicked good karma, I'd say.)

But as linguistically interesting as these errors may be, careful writers and editors usually want to avoid them. All too often, errors such as these sneak past spell check and mar otherwise straightforward writing, causing readers to pause, perhaps wince (or snort with delight, if they are of the schadenfreudian copy editor sort) and wonder, "Is that right?"

Spotting eggcorns has become popular on Language Log and other blogs, such as the Eggcorn Database.

Some seem fairly rare, but a few of the ones I've seen more than once include

"for all intensive purposes" in error for "for all intents and purposes"

"shoe in" for "shoo in"

"ferment unrest" for "foment unrest"

"on tenderhooks" for "on tenterhooks"

and the ever-popular

"bold-faced lie" for "bare-faced" or "bald-faced" lie.

The last is my favorite, of course. Send your own favorites!

And am I "chomping" or "champing at the bit" to hear them?

Message Edited by Ellen_Scordato on 08-26-2009 04:03 PM

Message Edited by Ellen_Scordato on 08-26-2009 04:07 PM

Message Edited by Ellen_Scordato on 08-26-2009 04:18 PM

[#2]

You could keep this blog going forever and I would never tire of it!

[#3]

One of my favorites is "free reign" in place of "free rein," an error that has even breached the bastion of the New York Times (well, it's more like a sand castle these days, but still...).