Blues eggcorn

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:35 AM -0500 3/14/05, Bethany K. Dumas wrote:
>On Mon, 14 Mar 2005, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
>>"Well, I can't  sleep at night.
>>"I just _catchnap_ through the day"
>
>Hmmm. Catnap? Catch a nap? I do not know the etymology, and a quick look
>at OED did not help me ... am I missing something?
>
>Bethany

I don't think you're missing anything.  I took this, as I'm assuming
Wilson did, as an eggcorn in which "catnap" was reanalyzed by
influence from "catch a nap", whence "catchnap".  Nice one!

Larry