palate

[Arnold Zwicky]

[i've tried to remove the html formatting code from this posting]

On May 25, 2012, at 9:23 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>
>    As much as I play the amateur most of the time, I am aware of the
>    distinction. Whether the error is an eggcorn or a mere spelling
>    error in the particular quoted passage is almost beside the more
>    general point.
>
>    It's sometimes a spelling error. I don't believe it is always
>    a spelling error. I've actually asked some people if they
>    intended to write "palette" and what they meant by that and the
>    explanation I sometimes got was that it's like "tasting different
>    colors"...

if you'd said this in the first place, it would have made things much clearer.  as i've written on this list many times, the "same" production can arise from different causes on different occasions.

> ...   A related story. I had someone connect with me on LinkedIn some time
>    ago. The woman listed her current occupation as the "Principle" of a
>    company. I thought, maybe it's a typo and this was meant to be
>    "Principal X" title that somehow got corrupted. I asked what the
>    title meant. In an ensuing email exchange I eventually asked her if
>    she intended "principle" or "principal". She stuck with "principle"
>    and specifically rejected "principal", because, she said, she's in
>    charge of things, like "the principle scientist". I let that go.

that's just the spelling confusion, carried over from one context to another.

i think it is (once again) time for me to bow out of eggcorn discussions on this list.  nothing i say is of any use.

arnold

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