[Ads-l] clink = chink

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Sat Oct 24 19:41:27 UTC 2015


> On Oct 24, 2015, at 3:23 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> CNN:
> 
> "Is this a clink in Donald Trump's armor?"
> 
> JL

Maybe the new, sensitized version of the metaphor guaranteed not to offend?  You'll remember what happened when a reporter suggested that Jeremy Lin was "a chink in the armor" of the Knicks during the latter days of Linsanity; I don't know of any groups that can be slurred by referring to them as "Clinks"--unless perhaps it's those who have spent time in prison.  

There are actually three dozen hits for "clink in the armor", suggesting that it is a reasonably natural eggcorn for those who don't know from (literal) chinks while recognizing that armor does, in fact, clink--maybe when it hasn't been properly oiled and is therefore vulnerable?  

LH
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
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