tar > paint > taint ?

[sagehen]

Arnold writes (in a most interesting post):

>well, the original idiom here is "tar with the same brush" (often in
>the passive), and that's what you find in idiom dictionaries.  on the
>web, "tar" beats out "taint" all hollow (in raw google webhits as of
>this morning):............
~~~~~~~~~~
........which looks, to me, like a blend of his making, namely : "beats
out.......all hollow."
"Beats all hollow," though I haven't heard it much in recent years, was a
favorite expression of my father's.
"Beats out" is still frequently heard.  I don't think I've ever encountered
this blend.
AM



 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
W stands for >:<  War ____Waste___Wiretaps____Witchhunts  >:<
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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