"in the mist of" (possible new eggcorn)

[Wilson Gray]

On Feb 22, 2005, at 6:12 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "in the mist of" (possible new eggcorn)
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> "In the mist of life we are in death."
>
>           --<OnlyRice>, "I was just thinking about  guard..,"
> (Usenet:rec.arts.marching.colorguard), Aug. 14, 1997.
>
> And elsewhere, no doubt.
>
> JL

Re: "I was just thinking about guard..."

I'm sure that I'm missing your point, Jon, but this use of "guard"
reminds me of one of my own early overcorrections. Once we'd left Texas
and I discovered that [r] could occur somewhere other than
word-initially, I decided that the proper pronunciation of "God" must
be "Guard" and that "God" and "Guard" were the same word: "Guard." Of
course, once I'd learned to read well enough, I gave up that idea.

-Wilson

> Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Laurence Horn
> Subject: "in the mist of" (possible new eggcorn)
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> from a contributor to a cancer survivors and caretakers support group:
>
> "well, in the mist of all of this with [name of spouse with cancer] I
> had fell and hit my head..."
>
> Whether this was a typo for "in the midst of" or a reanalysis isn't
> entirely knowable. But since the "all of this" in the context refers
> to the murky complexity of misdiagnoses, denial of coverage, etc.
> etc., I suspect the "mist" is in fact a reanalysis/eggcorn. (This is
> the same writer who previously contributed "biospy" for "biopsy".)
>
> Larry
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>
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