eggcorn "cudboard"

[Doug Harris]

the original note again:
Google reports 3000+ hits, but many of those are not cudboard
but CUD Board, sometimes referring to the Canadian University
of Dubai (of all things!).
I encountered it in the wild in a "freeecycle" listing from a woman
anxious to part with some cans of baked beans and tomatoes:
"cleaning out my cudboard, like 30 cans total. just have too much.
no name brands. must take all!"
dh

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----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: "Alison Murie" <sagehen7470 at ATT.NET>
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Received: 8/11/2009 6:59:37 PM
Subject: Re: eggcorn "cudboard"


>THe original of the following, sent earlier today, seems to have got
>lost in cyberspace:

>On Aug 11, 2009, at 2:30 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:

>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: Eggcorn: "cudboard"
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> At 10:48 AM -0700 8/11/09, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
>>> On Aug 11, 2009, at 8:30 AM, Doug Harris wrote:
>>>
>>>> Google reports 3000+ hits, but many of those are not cudboard
>>>> but CUD Board, sometimes referring to the Canadian University
>>>> of Dubai (of all things!).
>>>
>>> i don't get anywhere near that number of hits, but there certainly
>>> are
>>> some out there.
>>>
>>> but there a great many more hits for the ear-spelling "cuboard",
>>> and a
>>> fair number for the ear-spelling "cubboard".
>>
>> also a bunch for "cubbard" and for "cubberd", spellings I've used in
>> class when talking about loss of transparency with respect to this
>> word (vs. "clipboard")
>>
>> LH
>>
>>>
>>> i'm having trouble seeing "cudboard" as an actual eggcorn (what could
>>> cuds have to do with cupboards?).  maybe it's a demi-eggcorn: the
>>> writer realized that a consonant letter was needed to condition the
>>> lax vowel in the first syllable, and then cast about for existing
>>> one-
>>> syllable words with that vowel; "cub" would be the obvious choice,
>>> but
>>> "cud" is also possible (and [db] can be simplified to [b]).  the
>>> choice of "cub" or "cud" doesn't contribute any semantics, but at
>>> least the spelling has recognizable parts.
>>>
>>> arnold
>>>
>~~~~~~
>Then there is "clapboard," which some people pronounce as spelled, but
>most of us old farts, at least, pronounce "clabb at rd."
>AM

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