April 24, 2008

Word of the day: Eggcorns.

“Mind-bottling,” “jar-dropping,” and “lame man’s terms” are all eggcorns—a type of common and somewhat logical language goof named after a misspelling of “acorn.” Eggcorns have garnered quite a following on the web, where they were first discussed on the popular linguistics blog Language Log in 2003. If you can answer yes to any of the following questions, then you may have to check your own nest for eggcorns: When you really care about a cause, do you try to strum up support? Are you a perfectionist who hates to do things half-hazardly? Do complex moral issues fill you with a paralyzing cognitive dissidence? And finally, are you tired of paying exuberant prices?

GOOD Magazine | Goodmagazine - Mark Peters on Eggcorns

Check out The Eggcorn Database if you like this sort of thing.

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