feeble position

[Laurence Horn]

At 8:35 PM -0400 8/16/09, M Covarrubias wrote:
>On Aug 16, 2009, at 5:32 PM, Chris Waigl wrote:
>
>>
>>On 4 Aug 2009, at 17:51, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
>>
>>>On Aug 2, 2009, at 11:03 AM, Michael Covarrubias wrote:
>>>
>>>>watching an old episode of _coach_ ... i thought i heard
>>>>luther (jerry van dyke) utter the following line:
>>>>
>>>>"i dropped on my knees, curled up in the feeble position, closed my
>>>>eyes and screamed my head off"
>>>
>>>there are also some relevant non-skateboarding examples, with people
>>>curling up into the feeble position and the like.
>>>
>>>lovely eggcorn, with "feeble" suggesting helplessness and the like.
>>
>>
>>Now in the ECDB, with a reference to this thread and Michael
>>Covarrubias: http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/1102/feeble/
>>
>>Chris Waigl
>>
>
>The line got me noticing all instances of "fetal position" i've heard
>since then. along came another nice one: "feudal position." i found
>only a few hits for it (among several irrelevant hits):
>
>"I hung out the rest of the day on my couch in the feudal-position."
>http://biker1stu.blogspot.com/2009/02/made-you-look.html
>
>"I'll be in the corner of my room in the feudal position crying why
>yahoo why"
>http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090803154146AACc8VU
>
>"She was curled up in the feudal position with sweat pouring down her
>face and the most fearful expression you had ever seen her wearing."
>http://www.quizilla.com/stories/3613259/is-the-love-for-a-friend-alway-true-a-hogwarts-love-story-part-14
>
>
>on watching the rest of the coach episode (#83 season 5: "love me
>tender") i noticed how many eggcorny lines luther was given. it's
>right in line with his character in general. it's an interesting issue
>regarding writing and acting how much of it is written in versus
>improvised or actually "committed" by the actor. ISIS and some forms
>of over-/under-negation often get my attention. an interesting issue
>-- tho we know the answer is of course all of the above at different
>times.
>
And at least some of the many hits for "(in a) futile position" seem
to be eggcornish substitutions:

David of course slouched in a futile position and whimpered like a
little cowardly boy.

His owner, Jamie Gable, rushed to see what was the matter, and upon
noticing that his two hind legs limply crossed each other in a futile
position

She had no strength, so she curled up in a futile position.

LH

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