"Died in the Wool"

Fri May 19 22:59:55 UTC 2006

On May 19, 2006, at 1:08 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:

> Great catch, in any case, Bill...
>
> On 5/19/06, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
>>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
>> Subject:      "Died in the Wool"
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ----------
>>
>> Newspaperarchive sends out daily "on this date in history" emails, to
>> entice you to look them up.  I thought I had found an eggcorn today:
>>
>> "Col. T.E. Lawrence 'Lawrence of Arabia' of undying historic fame
>> died
>> in the Wool military hospital here today after an amazing battle for
>> life. "  Winnipeg Free Press reported on May 20, 1935.
>>
>> Turns out it was proper usage.  But it sure jumped off the page at
>> me.

there are two murder mystery novels with the title Died in the Wool,
one set on a sheep farm in new zealand, the other having to do with
knitting.

there are also a fair number of occurrences of "died in the wool" for
"dyed in the wool".  these could, of course, just involve the common
misspelling "die" for "dye".  it's hard for me to see how death might
be seen as somehow involved in the idiom, so i'm reluctant to
classify it as an eggcorn.

arnold

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