- A minute into my ride to work this morning, an erratic cicada flew from the Lutheran church (Missouri Synod) and smacked me in the mouth. It hurt.
- K told me yesterday that her mother says “a beast” when she means “obese,” as in “That woman is a beast!” Today we’ve been debating whether the phrase is a malapropism or an eggcorn. I say it would be an eggcorn—it shares in the general logic of them—but eggcorns are as much visual as oral puns, and since the only occasion of it we know is her mother’s speech act; therefore, I think it is a malapropism. K says it’s an eggcorn.
- On a similar note: This week, my allergies have my sinuses backed up to my ears; it’s as though I hear the world through a tunnel. I mentioned it to K tonight. “My ears are stoffed up,” I said. Stoffed! And you know what? I say it all the time! At the same time I think stopped and stuffed, but rather than say one or the other, I say both.
- Fact: Nothing is more perfect than ice cream.
Comments
i do not pretend to know much about eggcorns, but there’s got to be a word to describe my mother’s particular knack at butchering the english language. that’s all i can say.
by kl—Jul 17, 08:15 PM
Looking into it more, and given that her butchering seems largely idiosyncratic, I’m not so sure it’s not a folk etymology at issue.
by greg—Jul 17, 08:36 PM
from whence does it sally… the issue, that is?
(aside from clogged up sinuses)
by Jeremy—Jul 18, 07:10 AM
If it were an issue, it might sally from betwixt your toes, but since it’s at issue (not a tissue), it sallies from nowhere.
by greg—Jul 18, 07:53 AM
thank you mr. grammarian i didn’t know that! i’m going to have to get off the intertubes because i’ve learned my one thing for today, and i’d hate to exceed the limit!…
by Jeremy—Jul 18, 09:13 AM
Webster’s even puts my definition ahead of yours, as numbers 6 and 7, respectively.
by greg—Jul 18, 09:20 AM