more of What is this?

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Jun 15, 2005, at 1:50 PM, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:

> On Wed, 15 Jun 2005 11:27:32 -0700, Arnold M. Zwicky
> <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU> wrote:
>
>> On Jun 14, 2005, at 5:10 PM, Alan Baragona wrote:
>>>
>>> "Free societies will be allies against these hateful few who have no
>>> conscience, who kill at the whim of a hat." (Sept. 17, 2004)
>>
>> looks like a substitution blend, with the "whim" of "at a whim"
>> substituting for the "drop" of "at the drop of a hat".
>
> Reminiscent of the idiom blend "on a whim and a prayer", combining
> "on a
> whim" with "on a wing and a prayer". This one is a bit eggcornier
> because
> of the phonetic similarity of /wIm/ and /wIN/. Nonetheless I marked it
> questionable in the Eggcorn Database (perhaps there should be an
> "idiom
> blend" category): <http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/95/whim/>.

oh no, mr. ben!  let's not expand to idiom blends.  it would be like
being poised on a slippery edge.

arnold