eggcorns

[tygrrr]

This does perhaps not really belong in the 'eggcorn' category, but I remember once I was talking with a friend from the US about literature, and told him one of my favorite authors is Goethe - pronouncing his name (of course) with impeccable German intonation. My friend looked puzzled and said 'never heard of' - something I found real odd, so I said: 'sure you must have heard of him, he wrote 'Faust' for heavens sake, about the guy who made a pact with the devil!'. My friend's face immediately brightened and very relieved he stated: 'oh, you mean GOTH!!!' -- Really cracked me up! :biggrin1:
Americans can be such fountains of fun at times.
As can surely Europeans (myself included - and Brits perhaps not always included) be to you US folks
BUT HOW you can continue allow the common pronounciation of Bologna as baloney is, to me, one of the deep and impenetrable mysteries of US society - Though I have been thinking that it is perhaps to express triumph over defeating the Italian mob. :biggrin1:

 

[joyboytoy79]

...

And of course you can cite examples of the inclusion of the non-word "chomp" jbt79. I said as much in the relevant post. But do I think it's a dumbing-down of the language? Yes.

Since the "non-word" "chomp" has been a part of the american language since the late 17th century, i wouldn't call it a dumbing-down of the language. I suppose i wouldn't consider it any more a dumbing-down of the language than the "non-word" quiz, which was introduced in the mid 18th century. In fact, i would consider a change in the spelling of a word to be less of an infraction uppon the laws of our good language than the invention of a completely new word.

 

[rawbone8]

This does perhaps not really belong in the 'eggcorn' category, but I remember once I was talking with a friend from the US about literature, and told him one of my favorite authors is Goethe - pronouncing his name (of course) with impeccable German intonation. My friend looked puzzled and said 'never heard of' - something I found real odd, so I said: 'sure you must have heard of him, he wrote 'Faust' for heavens sake, about the guy who made a pact with the devil!'. My friend's face immediately brightened and very relieved he stated: 'oh, you mean GOTH!!!' -- Really cracked me up! :biggrin1:
Americans can be such fountains of fun at times.
As can surely Europeans (myself included - and Brits perhaps not always included) be to you US folks
BUT HOW you can continue allow the common pronounciation of Bologna as baloney is, to me, one of the deep and impenetrable mysteries of US society - Though I have been thinking that it is perhaps to express triumph over defeating the Italian mob. :biggrin1:

So many of us (older North Americans) were raised on Warner Brothers cartoons, a healthy dose of screwball comedies, film noir and gangster films, and they featured a lot of beloved Yiddish, Irish and Lower East Side accents.

 

[B_Stronzo]

Since the "non-word" "chomp" has been a part of the american language since the late 17th century, i wouldn't call it a dumbing-down of the language. I suppose i wouldn't consider it any more a dumbing-down of the language than the "non-word" quiz, which was introduced in the mid 18th century. In fact, i would consider a change in the spelling of a word to be less of an infraction uppon the laws of our good language than the invention of a completely new word.

Use it to your heart's content. Hell, use "y'all" for a contraction. It's fine with me. It's, again, my contention that neither is good English.

I take exception to its use in this American (or any other version of the English) language since the 17th century. I'd like to see a 17th century example of that contention.

The sources cited are decidedly going to be searcher-specific and in that light I can tell you that I have at hand my great grandfather's unabridged Funk and Wagnall's 1913 dictionary on its cast iron tripod stand here in my office.

He used it at Cornell.


I also have my late brother's Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary which he used while at Academy. I've checked both references (rather disparate in date I might add). Neither contains your "chomp".

I rely on my own sources rather than the ones you cite.

So I still champion the cause of the proper use of the term.

Further, must this be a battle?

Obviously you want to defend the evolution of the language as a "good thing" where I'd prefer to leave it intact calling back to a more formal (read standarized) day of articulation. It works for me. I suspect yours works for you.

I don't deny you the language is changing. We're both equally allowed our views on those changes as they impact our sensibilites. Are we not?

No matter what the true etymology of the "word" (should it be one) "chomp" I know it's genesis is in a bastardiz(s)ation of the word "champ". You may not like that you'd never heard of it until now but it doesn't change the fact of the matter.

 

[B_Stronzo]

This does perhaps not really belong in the 'eggcorn' category, but I remember once I was talking with a friend from the US about literature, and told him one of my favorite authors is Goethe - pronouncing his name (of course) with impeccable German intonation. My friend looked puzzled and said 'never heard of' - something I found real odd, so I said: 'sure you must have heard of him, he wrote 'Faust' for heavens sake, about the guy who made a pact with the devil!'. My friend's face immediately brightened and very relieved he stated: 'oh, you mean GOTH!!!' -- Really cracked me up! :biggrin1:

feel fortunate your friend new who Goethe was no matter how he'd heard his name slaughtered in pronunciation.. :biggrin1:

 

[B_Stronzo]

Worst "eggcorn" of all in my experience:

What the hell is going on with the word "caramel"??

When something is "caramelized" it's been doctored with caramel.

"Caramel" is pronounced "Kah reh mel".

What's the "carmel" pronunciation all about??

 

[tygrrr]

So many of us (older North Americans) were raised on Warner Brothers cartoons, a healthy dose of screwball comedies, film noir and gangster films, and they featured a lot of beloved Yiddish, Irish and Lower East Side accents.

Yeah, I know - many of us here in Scandinavia have been raised on those too - allthough perhaps not always getting the real meaning of the dialogue, but certainly appreciating and sometimes even 'falling in love' with many of the characters.
And I believe I got my first introduction to Yiddish watching 'I Love Lucy'. :biggrin1:

feel fortunate your friend new who Goethe was no matter how he'd heard his name slaughtered in pronunciation.. :biggrin1:

Yeah I know - and I do! :biggrin1: He's an artist actually - though not a writer :wink: - that's also a reason why I was so surprised by it! Though NOW he knows how to pronounce it (if he remembers...)

 

[dong20]

Plus Americans write "realize" rather than "realise". We covered it in another thread where one poster (dong20?) said it was closer to its Latin origin to write it with the "z".

Indeed, 'twas I who said it. It's often still used in academia, we do love our anachronisms us limeys.

 

[Gillette]

Read thread title

http://www.lpsg.org/sex-with-a-large-penis/34983-anyone-get-layed-today.html

 

[D_alex8]

Read thread title

http://www.lpsg.org/sex-with-a-large-penis/34983-anyone-get-layed-today.html

À propos of nothing in particular, it has reminded me of one of my favorite seldom-used Arabic verbs, saba'a, which despite its brevity, means "to insert one's finger into the rear end of a chicken to determine whether she is going to lay an egg".

 

[Gillette]

À propos of nothing in particular, it has reminded me of one of my favorite seldom-used Arabic verbs, saba'a, which despite its brevity, means "to insert one's finger into the rear end of a chicken to determine whether she is going to lay an egg".

Damn it.

I always make a point of using a new word in conversation at least three times the day I learn it. How the hell am I supposed to do that with saba'a?

Thanks heaps.

 

[GoneA]

Damn it.

I always make a point of using a new word in conversation at least three times the day I learn it. How the hell am I supposed to do that with saba'a?

Thanks heaps.

Move to a nearby farm.

 

[Gillette]

Move to a nearby farm.

Arabic poultry farms are pretty scarce here in the great white north, but I'll have a look.

 

[GoneA]

Arabic poultry farms are pretty scarce here in the great white north, but I'll have a look.

Moving to an Arabic poultry farm takes all the fun outta it. No one would ask what the word means.

 

[Gillette]

Moving to an Arabic poultry farm takes all the fun outta it. No one would ask what the word means.

Point taken.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

À propos of nothing in particular, it has reminded me of one of my favorite seldom-used Arabic verbs, saba'a, which despite its brevity, means "to insert one's finger into the rear end of a chicken to determine whether she is going to lay an egg".

Oh, fuck ....

 

[B_Stronzo]

I have to take back my last pet peeve eggcorn.

The three that grate my nerves pronunciationally more than any other abuse of a word in the English language are the words;

1) scallop

It has only one legitimate pronuciation:

SCALLOP [skol' op] (rhymes with "trollop")

it has the word "call" in there as 'to make a telephone call'.

I'm also annoyed by the newer incorrect pronunciation of "Halloween".

2) Halloween

It comes from "All Hallow's Eve" It has nothing to do with the word "hollow".

It's [Hal' o een] Say first syllable as if it's the nickname "Hal".

This is the one that sends me right off the chart:


3) OFTEN!!! NEVER PRONOUNCE THE "T"!!!




Often AWF-in or AHF-in. Do not pronounce the t.

Before I give you my two cents on the t in often, let’s take a look at what various authorities have said about it since the late 18th century.
John Walker (1791), whose Critical Pronouncing Dictionary was one of the most respected and popular references both in England and America well into the 19th century, declared that “in often and soften the t is silent.”
“The sounding of the t,” proclaims the legendary H.W. Fowler in Modern English Usage (1926), “which as the OED says is ‘not recognized by the dictionaries,’ is practised by two oddly consorted classes—the academic speakers who affect a more precise enunciation than their neighbours…& the uneasy half-literates who like to prove that they can spell….”
“The t in glisten is silent, even as it is in castle and often,” says Frank H. Vizetelly (1929), editor of Funk & Wagnalls New Standard (1913), “yet one occasionally hears pedants and provincials pronounce them [GLIS-ten] and [AWF-ten]. No pronouncing dictionary with a reputation to lose ever sounds the t in these words.”
“You don’t want a t in here any more than in soften,” advises Alfred H. Holt (1937).
Webster 2 (1934), which sanctions only AWF-in, notes that “the pronunciation [AWF-tin], until recently generally considered as more or less illiterate, is not uncommon among the educated in some sections, and is often used in singing.”

- from Do you Speak American?

 

[DC_DEEP]

Fine enough, Mr. Smarty (pronounced t) Pants (also pronounced t) how are you pronouncing these:

Forecastle
Coxswain

Don't look 'em up, or I will hunt you down and tickle you.

By the way, do you pronounce the t in "cunt-breathing dragon"?

My friend from Scotland, when he came to visit, brought me a tin of "Hawick Balls". Of course, it is pronounced HOE-(uh)k, almost but not quite one syllable. (I tried to get a schwa in the parenthses, but it wouldn't work...)

 

[B_Stronzo]

Forecastle = (here in New England) is "FOKE' sul" (remember I grew up hearing nautical terminology)

Coxswain = always heard it "COX' sin"

As far as 'cunt-breathing dragon' goes pronunciationally- I say always clearly enuciate the "t" for liaison purposes.

 

[DC_DEEP]

Forecastle = (here in New England) is "FOKE' sul" (remember I grew up hearing nautical terminology)

Coxswain = always heard it "COX' sin"

As far as 'cunt-breathing dragon' goes pronunciationally- I say always clearly enuciate the "t" for liaison purposes.

Well, you are at least close on "coxswain..." it is properly pronounced "COCK'S in!"