mints pie? axe of God? religious tracks? Prints of Wales?

[James Smith]

I've heard, and possibly used, both "getting on track"
and "getting untracked".  Both make sense, with
opposite meanings.  Are you talking of using the
inappropriate phrase when the opposite meaning is
meant?


--- Alice Faber <faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU> wrote:
> RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
> eggcorns.
>
> I've seen so many instances of "getting untracked"
> where my Sprachgefühl
> tells me "getting on track" should be used that I'm
> no longer sure what
> the original expression is. I've seen elaborate
> etymologies of "getting
> untracked" that seem too contrived to be correct.
> But, of course, I
> haven't cared enough to research it.
>
> On "doggy-dog world", I first heard (yes, heard)
> this in the mid-80s,
> from an undergraduate student of mine in Florida.
> The unstressed vowel
> in "doggy" was clearly lengthened, so it wasn't
> simply a matter of the
> /t/ in "eat" being assimilated to the /d/ in "dog".
>
>
> --
>
 =============================================================================
> Alice Faber
> faber at haskins.yale.edu
> Haskins Laboratories                            tel:
> (203) 865-6163 x258
> New Haven, CT 06511 USA                         fax
> (203) 865-8963
>

James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.

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