Eggcorn?

Arnold M. Zwicky zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU
Sat Jun 7 15:25:59 UTC 2008


On Jun 6, 2008, at 6:45 AM, Doug Harris wrote:

> A subject line from a just-received e-mail:
>
> EMPTY Ink Cartridges Needed (All kinds excepted)
>
>
> MAYBE simply a spelling error. But the meaning
> certainly is, um, inked out. And reversed.

MWDEU on accept/except: "Nearly every handbook published between 1917
and the present carries a warning against confusing _accept_ and
_except_.

... [citation] Still excepting bookings for 1984 --advt., _Morgan
Horse_, December 1983

"This confusion must be due entirely to similarity of sound, for the
meanings of the two verbs are so dissimilar as to obviate confusion on
that score."

arnold

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



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