eggcorn: "raise cackles"

[Baker, John]

        The literal meaning of "hackles" is the erectile hairs along the
back of the neck, so that's what I imagine them to look like.  (The term
is probably a metaphorical reference to dogs' hackles, which notoriously
become erect when they are angry.)  I don't have any sort of concrete
image for cockles.


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Benjamin Zimmer
Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 3:09 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: eggcorn: "raise cackles"

Well, what do people imagine "hackles" and "cockles" to look like?


--Ben Zimmer

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