Foot, or hoof, and mouth

Damien Hall halldj at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU
Thu May 12 15:35:37 UTC 2005


Bethany Dumas wrote:

Spotted on a calendar at my dentist's office this a.m.:

"I think you have foot and mouth disease." (patient in chair is seeing an
x-ray of a foot)

Two eggcorns?

Foot in mouth?

Hoof and mouth?

========================

In the UK, the disease that I think is known in the US as 'hoof-and-mouth' is
only ever 'foot-and-mouth'.  I found it quite strange when I first arrived in
the States, and the foot-and-mouth epidemic at home was still in the news, to
hear it referred to as 'hoof-and-mouth'.

That might reduce the eggcorn count on your dentist's calendar to one - might it
have been a British calendar?

Damien Hall
University of Pennsylvania



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