honcho > honcha

[Amy West]

"Etymythology" is a *great* term for that.
My HEL-teaching colleague has asked what term would be applied to Am.
English speakers applying the o-a feminization change to words of
non-Spanish origin. I think it's just that folk etymology or the
broader process of reanalysis. I think she was wondering if there's a
fancier, more technical term.

---Amy West

PS I plan to steal your New Word Journal idea for my EN 101 class
next fall. I actually plan to make it a broader Language Journal
where they remark on language that they see and hear, but new words
will be the focus of the end of the semester.

>Date:    Thu, 1 Feb 2007 10:06:07 -0500
>From:    Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>Subject: Re: honcho > honcha
>
>At 9:29 AM -0500 2/1/07, Amy West wrote:
>>A bit more discussion on the topic. I find Charlie Doyle's response
>>interesting as it shows two different senses of "folk etymology." I
>>guess the first sense, the non-linguist sense, could also be called
>>"false etymology" like the false origin stories passed around about
>>"posh" and "tip" and "blackmail" (oh, that last one drives me nuts).
>>
>>---Amy
>
>--and "picnic", which is even worse.  I agree, and I've suggested
>(e.g. in my American Speech paper from 2004, "Spitten image:
>Etymythology and Fluid Dynamics") distinguishing the the first
>category as etymythologies (essentially etymological urban legends),
>as opposed to first-order or folk/false etymologies, which involve a
>(relatively) simple invention of transparency.
>
>Larry Horn

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