Eggcorn

[Beverly Flanigan]

Whew--at least it wasn't Athens, Ohio--this time.

At 10:33 AM 11/24/2006, you wrote:
>My local newspaper this morning prints a letter-to-the-editor decrying the
>voters' recent approval of a school tax increase. We citizens will now be
>"throwing yet more money into the stinkhole called 'education'" (_Athens
>Banner-Herald_, 24 Nov. 2006, A10).
>
>I don't believe it's an intentional pun; the letter-writer seems quite
>witless.
>
>Google gives 19,800 hits for "stinkhole" and 18,000 for "stink hole" or
>"stink-hole." Unlike the letter-writer's, however, most of those instances
>don't appear to be confusions with "sinkhole" but rather references to a
>very dirty or messy room or (more literally?) an anus.
>
>--Charlie
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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