Eggcorn: *flea market* > *flee market*

[Dennis Preston]

It's hard to proclaim an eggcorn when you don't know the "true"
(sigh!) etymology. There are calque versions from French and cognates
with "flow" (a market that "moves around"). I think it's ety unk
myself, in spite of the apparently strong stance in OED.

dInIs

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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: Eggcorn: *flea market* > *flee market*
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>On Mar 6, 2008, at 9:30 AM, Damien Hall wrote:
>
>>  Notwithstanding the easy spelling error 'flea' > 'flee', it seems to
>>  me that
>>  'flea market' > 'flee market' is at least a potential eggcorn;  not as
>>  obviously one as many others, but couldn't people have thought that
>>  the insect
>>  was called a <flee> because it fled (jumped away) if disturbed?  This
>>  explanation could potentially account for many mis-spellings of
>>  'flea' as
>>  <flee>, obviously, not just this particular phrase.
>
>yes -- then "flea" > "flee" would be the eggcorn.  perhaps that was
>what dInIs was suggesting.
>
>>   But, granted, this isn't
>>  indisputably an eggcorn.  Maybe I'm reaching here.
>
>this is a case where you could actually ask people about their
>understandings of the words involved.
>
>arnold
>
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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