This kind of shit makes me nuts...

The Eggcorn Database

This is a page dedicated to documenting and theorizing about that kind of idiom-butchering where someone substitutes a similar-sounding word for another in an idiomatic phrase. The "about" page of the site explains the etymology of "eggcorn," but examples are:

• "for all intensive purposes" (should be "for all intents and purposes")
• "a shot across the bough" (should be "shot across the bow")
• "land lover" (should be "landlubber")

The contributors to the site note that most "eggcorns" are the result of people substituting some more apparently sensible word, often because they aren't familiar with the archaic metaphor or usage underlying the phrase. (i.e. If you don't know that "shot across the bow" is based on a naval metaphor, "shot across the bough" makes just about as much sense.)

Of all of the errors (yes, errors!) people make in language use, this is the one that most makes me cringe. The Eggcorn Database is like a car crash for me. Why? Why does this kind of error, even more than "they're/their/there," make me so nuts? Several reasons:

• They reveal a complete obliviousness to the connection between language and history.
• They reveal a bizarre incuriousness about language.
• They reveal a weird self-centeredness and presentism: everything must make sense to me RIGHT NOW!
• They often rely on the supposition that language always makes logical sense, which just isn't true.
• They often result in inexact or incorrect use of idioms.

But I think the main thing is: They reveal just how weird my own relationship to language is. I literally cannot imagine hearing an apparently absurd phrase and NOT having my first impulse be "Hmm. I wonder what the historical or cultural origin of that is." I think I actually looked up "shot across the bow" at some point. Sometimes it seems like half of the history I know, I either learned or remember via its connection to English idioms.

Gah. Gah.