Eggcorn: brute force >> brut force

[Damien Hall]

This one is reported by Robert Cumming in the Facebook group Eggcorn Hunt
Club. I'll just copy his original post and my reply to it.

Original report:

There's more of this about than I'd ever have expected. I don't quite
understand how people connect aftershave with force, so maybe it's not a
real eggcorn. Curious though...
http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?q=%22%2Bbrut%20force%22

My response:

I think this _is_ an eggcorn. I don't know the origin of the name of the
aftershave Brut, but I imagine that it may be a play on the word _brute_.
Later, people who didn't know the slightly-obscure _brute_ but were aware
of the aftershave have assumed that _brut_ was also the spelling of the
adjective. This would be made more likely by the possibility that _brute
force_ is now a set phrase and unanalysable for some speakers, ie a phrase
whose meaning they know without knowing the meaning of all its parts
individually.

Semantically, maybe the connection is through the smell of the aftershave
being particularly strong, or the idea that it is _supposed_ to be strong
(or people wouldn't notice the wearer wearing it).

Of course, we also have to beware of the possibility that, in at least some
instances, _brut force_ is a simple typo for _brute force_, but I bet that
at least some of the hits are 'genuine'.

Damien

--
Damien Hall

University of York
Department of Language and Linguistic Science
Heslington
YORK
YO10 5DD
UK

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