Cats, horses, eggcorns

[Matthew Gordon]

I think it's more likely due to the greater phonetic similarity of 'cat' and
'cart' in African English. I think most African varieties are r-less and my
guess is the usual value of the "short a" in 'cat' is closer to /a/ (i.e.
the vowel that most Americans use in 'father'). I don't have Wells or other
resources handy to check this.

-Matt Gordon


On 3/15/06 1:16 PM, "Chris F. Waigl" <chris at LASCRIBE.NET> wrote:


> http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/689/cat/ Thank you.
>
> Strangely, it's most frequent in texts from African writers. I wonder if
> the rationale is the one you suggest, or something like valuing the cat
> more than the horse.
>
> Chris Waigl
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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