This is almost an eggcorn

[Dennis R. Preston]

If /t/ and /d/ are flapped (as they almost always are in AmerEng) and
the final /kt/ is simplified (as it would be in many varieties), the
pronunciation could have been the source of the reanalysis in print,
but how could we have been sure of it in speech since they are
homophonous? Somebody says /aeDIk/ for "addict" and someone else
hears "attic."

dInIs

>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Doug Harris <cats22 at FRONTIERNET.NET>
>Subject:      Re: This is almost an eggcorn
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Alternatively. . .
>I'm not a drug attic, I just have bats in my belfry.
>(the other) doug
>
>drug addict >> drug attic
>
>I've heard people say this for years, but only recently started
>noticing it in print:
>"many people have experienced one of their peers whose mother was a
>drug attic"
>
>I'm not a drug attic..i just need a puff
>
>-----
>
>attic >> addict makes no more sense than addict >> attic, of course.
>
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
15C Morrill Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
517-353-4736
preston at msu.edu

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