"The mortal plain"

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Mar 10, 2008, at 6:45 AM, Jim Parish wrote:

> Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
>> plain/plane is common enough to have its own entry in Brians.
>
> Pardon my ignorance: Brian's what?

Paul Brians, Common Errors in English Usage, available on-line at

   http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

(and also available in hard copy).

meanwhile, plane > plain in "plain geometry" is in the eggcorn
database (entered by Ben Zimmer):

   http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/116/plain/

and one comment on the ecdb reports an occurrence of "above the
fruited plane"; more can be googled up.

arnold

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