Eggcorn?---("the life and blood of")

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

Yes, I suppose. IAC, "substantive" is in the eye of the beholder; the word "and" can be pretty important in some contexts. 
 
Gerald Cohen

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From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Charles Doyle
Sent: Mon 8/7/2006 3:35 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Eggcorn?---("the life and blood of")



A pattern-blend, in which the resulting phrase contains no substantive word from one of the contributing phrases but does follow its formula and prosody?

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2006 15:15:50 -0500
>From: "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
>Subject: Re: Eggcorn?---("the life and blood of")
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
>
>Looks rather like a blend: "the life and blood of" from  "the life's blood of" + "the heart and soul of."
>
>Gerald Cohen
>
>________________________________
>
>From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Charles Doyle
>Sent: Mon 8/7/2006 2:54 PM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Eggcorn?
>
>I've just read a final exam esssay in which one of my students avers that metaphors "form the life and blood of proverbs and riddles."  A Google(TM) search for "the life and blood of" yields 639 hits (+ 207 in books), in contrast to "the life's blood of" with a surprisingly low 16,900 hits (+ 604 in books).
>
>--Charlie

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org