Merkins--(origin in metanalysis)

[Beverly Flanigan]

Tom, such spellings would generally not be serious (everyone knows how to
spell 'American'); they might be satirical or comic in specific contexts
only (something Google doesn't include, right?).  On the other hand, the
pubic hair meaning may be the source of some of these "misspellings."  When
we talk about dialects here, we're basically talking about spoken forms and
how they vary.

Beverly

At 01:27 PM 10/22/2006, you wrote:
>Using spellweb.com for word frequency (use google), I see counts for
>
>american = 51,200,000
>americans = 12,500,000
>merkin = 79,100
>merkins = 5,530
>mercin - 551
>mercins - 346
>merican = 82,3000
>mericans = 8,680
>
>So some folks do spell the word "merkin(s)."  Basically, I've never heard an
>American say nor spell "merkin(s)".  I have seen and Australian spelled
>"merkin" once, and then here once.  Was the speller here an American?
>
>Tom Z
>
>Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL4+
>See truespel.com and the 4 truespel books at authorhouse.com.
>
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
>>Subject:      Re: Merkins--(origin in metanalysis)
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>     Maybe this was already mentioned in the thread (if so, my =
>>apologies), but the origin of "Merkins" would be a sort of metanalysis =
>>of  the singular "American" (An example of metanalysis is "an =
>>ekename"--literally "an also name" being incorrectly analyzed in popular =
>>speech to "a nekename," which gives modern "nickname").
>>=20
>>      So, someone would say "I'm American" (adjective), which would be =
>>reanalyzed to "I'm a Merikan" (noun).  Then, once someone can be "a =
>>Merikan," more than one would be "Merikans." Then by slurring (I'm sure =
>>there's a more precise phonological description/rule for this): =
>>"Merkins."
>>=20
>>Gerald Cohen
>>=20
>>=20
>>=20
>>=20
>>=20
>>=20
>>=20
>>
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>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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