Searching for Eggcorns
I am Internally grateful to Language Log for introducing me to the concept of eggcorns.
Searching for eggcorns is indeed a hard road to hoe. Sometimes you need to “take another tact“: and learn to “tow the line.”
I am Internally grateful to Language Log for introducing me to the concept of eggcorns.
Searching for eggcorns is indeed a hard road to hoe. Sometimes you need to “take another tact“: and learn to “tow the line.”
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June 4th, 2004 at 8:54 pm
Magnificent. I link-tracked to all the articles here and on Language Log. I’d never heard”Hard road to hoe.” Language Log mentions spoonerisms at some juncture, but none of the examples were spoonerisms nor came close to being spoonerisms. I agree with the suggestion of naming the phenomenon eggcorns. It fits, and will give our children something to tell theirs about the etymology of eggcorns.
June 7th, 2004 at 1:11 am
Like “coming down the pike” or “coming down the pipe” — I’m still not sure which one is right.
June 7th, 2004 at 1:21 am
Also — I just thought of “wheelbarrel” — a funny one my aunt used to say.
This whole idea has also been called “catachresis” or catachrestic etymology, I think. I came across the word and the idea in some article by Homi Bhabha, and began seeing it everywhere.
I do a similar thing in writing poetry, deliberately writing messily and then later, mis-reading my own handwriting accidentally on purpose.
June 11th, 2004 at 2:51 am
Well, there’s also the fairly common “for all intensive purposes”.
But, might I ask, what is the original form of “hard road to hoe”?
June 11th, 2004 at 9:28 am
The original phrase is “a hard row to hoe”:http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=tough%20row%20to%20hoe
A row of plants in a field, for instance, is something that one would actually use a hoe on. A road, not so much. A similar phrase, which I’ve never actually heard used, is “hoe your row”:http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=mozclient&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&q=%22hoe+your+row%22 or to do your share of the work.
June 12th, 2004 at 12:44 am
Ah, thanks. Yeah, it seems obvious in retrospect. :p