[Ads-l] clink = chink

[Laurence Horn]

Not in the eggcorn database (yet).  If I'm right about the likely unfamiliarity with "chink" and the plausibility of the clink-as-defect-in-armor reconstruction, "clink in the armor" isn't a (mere) malapropism.

LH

> On Oct 24, 2015, at 4:12 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> ISTR "a clink in his armor" from many, many years ago, but can't say when.
> 
> '70s? '80s?
> 
> JL
> 
> On Sat, Oct 24, 2015 at 3:41 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: clink = chink
>> 
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>>> On Oct 24, 2015, at 3:23 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> =
>> wrote:
>>> =20
>>> CNN:
>>> =20
>>> "Is this a clink in Donald Trump's armor?"
>>> =20
>>> 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. =20
>> 
>> 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? =20
>> 
>> LH
>>> =20
>>> --=20
>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the =
>> truth."
>>> =20
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>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
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