crick vs. crook in the neck (was: Eggcorn v. dialect)

Victoria Neufeldt vneufeldt at MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM
Sat Apr 23 03:18:33 UTC 2005


I've always said (and, to the best of my knowledge, heard/read)
'crick' for this.  I don't recall ever encountering 'crook', either in
my native Canada or the U.S.

Victoria

Victoria Neufeldt
727 9th Street East
Saskatoon, Sask.
S7H 0M6
Canada
Tel: 306-955-8910


On Friday, April 22, 2005 3:07 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
> . . . the oldest [eggcorn] - in the sense of
> "the first
> one that I became aware of" - one that I know of:
>
> "crook" = crick, as in, "I got a crook in my neck." I don't
> think that
> I've ever heard "crick" used in this context in a natural
> conversation.
> Once, when I had a crick in my neck, I tried explaining why
> one should
> use "crick" and not "crook" in this context to an old
> friend. (I knew
> way better than to bring something like this up with a
> stranger; among
> my friends, I have the reputation of being the arbiter of
> last resort
> on matters of "proper" English, so this was a discussion
> with one of my
> stone potnas.) He listened politely, but the expression on his face
> clearly said, "That must be your asshole talking, because your mouth
> knows better."
>
> "crouch" = crotch, as in, "She kicked him in his crouch," is another
> good BE "standard" expression, so to speak. I tried to
> explain this one
> to a Japanese-American buddy, basically a standard-English
> speaker who
> had picked up a few BE-isms - from having remained in an originally
> white ("Jaguar" Jon Arnett, a white Hall-of-Famer in pro
> football who
> was also famous for having married Jane "The Outlaw"
> Russell, grew up
> in this same neighborhood), formerly-Japanese neighborhood
> after it had
> tipped to black - to the extent of referring to himself and other
> Asian-Americans by the BE "Buddhaheads" instead of by the
> then-standard
> "Orientals."
>
> -Wilson
>
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