Foot, or hoof, and mouth

[Wilson Gray]

On May 12, 2005, at 11:35 AM, Damien Hall wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Damien Hall <halldj at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Foot, or hoof, and mouth
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> Bethany Dumas wrote:
>
> Spotted on a calendar at my dentist's office this a.m.:
>
> "I think you have foot and mouth disease." (patient in chair is seeing
> an
> x-ray of a foot)
>
> Two eggcorns?
>
> Foot in mouth?
>
> Hoof and mouth?
>
> ========================
>
> In the UK, the disease that I think is known in the US as
> 'hoof-and-mouth' is
> only ever 'foot-and-mouth'.  I found it quite strange when I first
> arrived in
> the States, and the foot-and-mouth epidemic at home was still in the
> news, to
> hear it referred to as 'hoof-and-mouth'.
>
> That might reduce the eggcorn count on your dentist's calendar to one
> - might it
> have been a British calendar?
>
> Damien Hall
> University of Pennsylvania

FWIW. I've always, i.e. for the past sixty years or so, referred to
this disease as "foot-and-mouth disease" because that was what it was
called when I first heard of it. This form was reinforced by the pun,
"foot-in-mouth disease." I've never lived in or even visited for more
than a few hours any other English-speaking country. Suddenly, from my
point of view, "foot" was replaced by "hoof," for reasons unknown. In
like manner, a couple of weeks ago, a local newspaper made reference to
"leprosy, formerly known as 'Hansen's disease,'" in an article about
the closing of a leprosarium. It used to be, "Hansen's disease,
formerly known as 'leprosy'." Didn't it?

-Wilson Gray