eggcorn candidate: "undermind"

Michael McKernan mckernan at LOCALNET.COM
Wed Dec 28 05:54:46 UTC 2005


Laurence Horn wrote:

>
>"I don't want to undermind her"
>
>This struck me as more of an eggcorn than a slip or "performance
>error", especially since I could imagine a context in which
>reanalysis might have taken place, e.g.:
>
>"I don't want to undermine Dad" ==> "I don't want to undermind Dad"
>

Larry, these are interesting examples.  But wouldn't it be simpler to
assume that the proximity of 'e' and 'd' on the qwerty keyboard, as well as
their proximity in many lexical forms ( -ed words) argues for mere
typographical error?

(I don't know what you mean by 'performance error'...)


Michael McKernan



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