Wife's eggcorn

[Margaret Lee]

And, of course, there is Carl Carlton's 1981 hit, "She's a Bad Mamma Jamma," which sings of woman who's "fine as she can be...built, stacked ... with all the curves a man like (sic)."

  Margaret Lee

  Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
   And, of course, there's
the "motherfucker," occasionally pseudo-euphemized as "mammyjammer,"
preferred by gentlemen of color. "Pseudo-" because "mammy" is, in and
of itself, insulting and "jammer" is pretty much identical to
"fucker."

-Wilson


On 1/3/06, Dennis R. Preston
wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "Dennis R. Preston"

> Subject: Re: Wife's eggcorn
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Wilson,
>
> These little "phonological euphemisms" have taken many forms over the
> centuries to avoid saying the taboo. My favorite has always been the
> Polish syllable "kurrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-" pronounced with an elongated
> (trilled of course) /r/ and with no hint of final intonation. Finally
> the speaker ends with "-cza," rendering "kurcza" (chicken), but the
> elongated /r/ makes everyone suspect that the taboo "kurwa" (whore)
> is coming up instead.
>
> "Kurwa" is, by the way, used exclamatorily in Polish, like English
> "shit," but unlike English "whore."
>
> Prestonski
>
>
>
> >I don't know why it's taken me so long to flash on this as an eggcorn,
> >but, for years, I've been annoyed by hearing my wife say, when she's
> >stressed out:
> >
> >"I feel like _Dog Chow_!"
> >
> >"Dog Chow," is, of course, a registered trademark of the
> >Ralston-Purina Co. of St. Louis, my beloved home town. What my wife
> >is reaching for is, "I feel like dog _shit_!" But what elderly
> >gentleman wants to hear the language of a common night walker from the
> >lips of his dear wife? So, I've not tried to correct her. (Probably
> >not a smoove[sic] move, in any case!)
> >
> >-Wilson Gray
>
>
> --
> Dennis R. Preston
> University Distinguished Professor
> Department of English
> 15-C Morrill Hall
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing, MI 48824-1036
> Phone: (517) 353-4736
> Fax: (517) 353-3755
> preston at msu.edu
>




Margaret G. Lee, Ph.D.
Professor of English & Linguistics
  and University Editor
Department of English
Hampton University, Hampton, VA 23668
757-727-5769(voice);757-727-5084(fax)
margaret.lee at hamptonu.edu   or   mlee303 at yahoo.com

---------------------------------
 Yahoo! DSL Something to write home about. Just $16.99/mo. or less