"kiddy corner" was: Folk etymology definition

Cohen, Gerald Leonard gcohen at MST.EDU
Sat Mar 8 16:26:39 UTC 2008


Last week a student sent me written directions about how to get to a particular building, which he said (wiith no humor intended) was "kiddy corner across the street from..."
 
Gerald Cohen 

________________________________

From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Dave Wilton
Sent: Fri 3/7/2008 8:41 PM

<snip>

The first sense is a specific category of lexical transformation: taking an
unfamiliar word and modifying it to a form that is familiar, e.g.,
"brideguma" to "bridegroom," "catercorner" to "kittycorner."

<snip>

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



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