eggcorn versus malaprop

James Landau jjjrlandau at EARTHLINK.NET
Wed Feb 1 01:24:46 UTC 2006


How do you distinguish between an eggcorn and a malaprop?

At work the big boss from DC, after the obligatory sarcasm about our
inability to keep schedules and our tendency to let things drop through the
cracks (i.e. our office Christmas tree ws still up), twice used the
expression "put your best face forward".  Afterwards I got into a
disagreement with the local boss as to whether this expression should be
classified as an eggcorn or as a malaprop.

     - Jim Landau

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



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