A torcherous eggcorn

[Baker, John]

        Would phase/faze be an example of this?  I have for some time
thought this one of the weirder examples in the ECDB, because "phase" is
a long-accepted variant spelling of "faze," listed as such in many
(though not all) dictionaries.


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Arnold M. Zwicky
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 2:01 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: A torcherous eggcorn

On Dec 12, 2007, at 9:46 AM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:

> I don't watch eggcorn threads much, but I think it's a fine line as to

> whether someone reanalyzes (comes up with torch -> torcher) or simply
> misspells (tor chur, must be spelled torcher). BB

i've written repeatedly that some of these examples can come about by
different routes.  in particular, one person's ear spelling might be
another person's eggcorn.  we put things in the ecdb if we think that
semantic reanalysis is likely for at least some of the people who use an
example.


arnold

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