Eggcorn: foilage

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Oct 10, 2008, at 5:46 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:

> foilage for foliage. Google boats 227,000 hits. I've made this error
> at least twice this year. BB

certainly occurs as a typo, and probably as a simple misspelling as
well (-iage being an uncommon letter-sequence, occurring after a
single consonant letter only in "foliage"), but is there any evidence
that some people think the meaning of the word involves foil or foiling?

most likely, the spelling is an attempt to represent the very common
two-syllable pronunciation (recognized by many dictionaries), but
using the knowledge that the spelling has the letter I in it.

so: almost surely not an eggcorn.

arnold

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