An eggcorn is the alteration of a word or phrase through the mishearing or reinterpretation of one or more of its elements,, sense 2 creating a new phrase which is plausible when used in the same context. Thus, an eggcorn is an unexpectedly fitting or creative

malapropism A malapropism (; also called a malaprop, acyrologia or Dogberryism) is the incorrect use of a word in place of a word with a similar sound, either unintentionally or for comedic effect, resulting in a nonsensical, often humorous utterance. An exam ...

. Eggcorns often arise as people attempt to make sense of a stock phrase that uses a term unfamiliar to them, as for example replacing "

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

" with "old-timers' disease", or

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's " to the manner born" with "to the manor born". The autological word "eggcorn" is itself an eggcorn, derived from

acorn The acorn is the nut (fruit), nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'', ''Notholithocarpus'' and ''Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains a seedling surrounded by two cotyledons (seedling leaves), en ...

Language change

Eggcorns arise when people attempt to use

analogy Analogy is a comparison or correspondence between two things (or two groups of things) because of a third element that they are considered to share. In logic, it is an inference or an argument from one particular to another particular, as oppose ...

and logic to make sense of an expression – often a stock one – that includes a term which is not meaningful to them. For example, the stock expression "in one fell swoop" might be replaced by "in one foul swoop", the infrequently used adjective "fell" (for "fierce", "cruel", or "terrible") being replaced with the more common word "foul" in order to convey the cruel/underhand meaning of the phrase as the speaker understands it. Eggcorns are of interest to linguists as they not only show language changing in real time, but can also shed light on how and why the change occurs.

Etymology

The term ''egg corn'' (later contracted into one word, ''eggcorn'') was coined by professor of linguistics

Geoffrey Pullum Geoffrey Keith Pullum (; born 8 March 1945) is a British and American linguist specialising in the study of English. Pullum has published over 300 articles and books on various topics in linguistics, including phonology, morphology, semantics ...

in September 2003 in response to an article by Mark Liberman on the website '' Language Log'', a group blog for linguists. In his article, Liberman discussed the case of a woman who had used the phrase ''egg corn'' for ''

'', and he noted that this specific type of substitution lacked a name. Pullum suggested using ''egg corn'' itself as a label.

Examples

* "baited breath" for " bated breath" * "beckon call" for " beck and call" * "damp squid" for " damp squib" * "deep seeded" for " deep seated" * "ex-patriot" for "

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and ...

" * "the feeble position" for "the fetal position" * "for all intensive purposes" for " for all intents and purposes" * "free reign" for " free rein" * "in one foul swoop" for "in one fell swoop" * "jar-dropping" for " jaw-dropping" * "just desserts" for " just deserts" * "old-timers' disease" for "

" * "old wise tale" for " old wives' tale" * "on the spurt of the moment" for " on the spur of the moment" * "preying mantis" for "

praying mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate ...

" * "real trooper" for "real trouper" * "ripe with..." for " rife with..." * "scandally clad" for " scantily clad" * "to the manor born" for " to the manner born" * "wet your appetite" for " whet your appetite"

Similar phenomena

Eggcorns are similar to but distinct from several other linguistic expressions: * Where a ''

folk etymology Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology, analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a mo ...

'' is a change in the form of a word caused by widespread misunderstanding of the word's

etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

, an eggcorn may be limited to one person rather than being used generally within a

speech community A speech community is a group of people who share a set of linguistic norms and expectations regarding the use of language. The concept is mostly associated with sociolinguistics and anthropological linguistics. Exactly how to define ''speech ...

. * A ''

'' generally derives its effect from a comic misunderstanding of the user, often creating a nonsensical phrase; an eggcorn on the other hand is a substitution that exhibits creativity or logic. * A '' mondegreen'' is a misinterpretation of a word or phrase, often within the lyrics of a specific song or other type of performance, and need not make sense within that context. An eggcorn must still retain something of the original meaning, as the speaker understands it, and may be a replacement for a poorly understood phrase rather than a mishearing. * In a '' pun'', the speaker or writer intentionally creates a humorous effect, whereas an eggcorn may be used or created by someone who is unaware that the expression is non-standard. Where the spoken form of an eggcorn sounds the same as the original, it becomes a type of

homophone A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning or in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (past tense of "rise"), or spelled differently, a ...

References

External links