A torcherous eggcorn

[Mark Mandel]

My sister is an MT/editor/reviewer and sends me things like this all the
time. I keep a special folder for them, and I'm passing this on to her.

m a m :-)

On Dec 15, 2007 5:15 PM, Seán Fitzpatrick <grendel.jjf at verizon.net> wrote:

> I sent Mark Peter's "lack toast and tolerant" to my sister, a physician.
> Years ago she reported patients at the ER of a slum hospital talking about
> their "sick-as-hell anemia".  She replied that medical transcriptionists
> are
> a fertile source of eggcorns, and they are now digital as well as human.
> Most are amusing only to people familiar with the correct form; her
> current
> favorite:
>        "'vaginal vortex delivery' . Presumably the baby spins out of
> control. The correct            term is 'vaginal vertex delivery' meaning
> 'head first'".
> It was her daughter who added to family folklore when she returned from
> McDonald's and announced that she had had "chicken maggots".
>
> Seán Fitzpatrick
> It's a Gnostic thing. You wouldn't understand.
> http://www.logomachon.blogspot.com/
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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