eggcorn "signal out"

[Joel S. Berson]

Confusion with what a baseball umpire does?  (And some other sports.)

Joel

At 5/3/2009 11:52 AM, Gordon, Matthew J. wrote:
>On a podcast I heard "signal s.o. out" which I took to be an eggcorn
>for  "single s.o. out." A quick google search turns up other examples:
>
>"To signal him out is a little unfair, he was the only TV stock
>pundit (that I know of) that actually told people to get out!"
>http://forum.newshounds.us/viewtopic.php?t=26854&highlight=&sid=8e420f4f98c15656f7e1e31fd40555ce
>
>"we "fans" seem to signal him out as a scapegoat"
>http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A49747206
>
>
>Also some older examples in print (from Google Books):
>
>"bring the name of Lincoln into such national prominence as to
>signal him out as one of the ablest leaders of the new Republican
>party" from History of the United States, William Davidson 1902.
>
>"His power and wealth, too, seemed to signal him out above all
>others for the highest position in the land" from A History of
>Germany in the Middle Ages, Ernest Flagg Henderson, 1894.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org