latest Mark Peters on eggcorns

[Wilson Gray]

Thank God for small favors!

-Wilson

On 8/9/06, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: latest Mark Peters on eggcorns
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 8/9/06, William Salmon <william.salmon at yale.edu> wrote:
> > In honor of the attention given to eggcorns in this higher education
> > piece, I give a particularly juicy eggcorn:
> >
> > pustule > pus jewel
> >
> > Google Examples:
> > The only thing they can do is pop them one by one and remove the pus
> > jewel inside to stop them spreading if they do not clear up on their
> > own.
> >
> > Two days ago a nice sized pus jewel popped up on Mr . Eliot's ring
> > finger . It was the worst one he's ever had.
> >
> > It barely hurts at all though and doesn't seem inflamed, except it gets
> > a weird pus-jewel type bubble when I wear my glasses...
>
> That's a beaut. Just think, if this had been noted on Language Log a
> few years ago, we might all be referring to "pus jewels" instead of
> "eggcorns"...
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
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>


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