Eggcorn?

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On May 12, 2005, at 6:35 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:

> At 12:33 PM +0100 5/12/05, Michael Quinion wrote:
>
>> A subscriber has e-mailed me thus: "I am a college instructor, and
>> the other day I was grading papers when I came across this: 'In the
>> early 1960s, rock and roll was spreading like wildflowers.' I found
>> it oddly apt and a little poetic, if totally wrong."
>>
>>
> It may be wrong, but it's spreading like...well, let's see:
>
> "spreading like wildfire"   42,200
> "spreading like wildflowers"  352

Carl Hart entered a comment in the eggcorn database on 3/1/05 with
this one.  i guess it's time to elevate it to an actual entry.

years ago i collected "spreading like wildflower" as a Fay/Cutler
malapropism.  i'm sure it was an inadvertent error because i was the
source, and i corrected myself immediately.  but now we have
substantial numbers from Google that look intentional.

spreading like wildflowers: 352 (above)
spreading like wildflower: 18

spread like wildflowers: 69
spread like wildflower: 95

spreads like wildflowers: 14
spreads like wildflower: 5

SPREAD + wildflowers: 435 total
SPREAD + wildflower: 118 total
grand total: 553

arnold