reversals in usage judgments

[Laurence Horn]

At 5:43 AM -0800 1/18/09, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
>On Jan 17, 2009, at 6:27 PM, Herb Stahlke wrote:
>
>>
>>I've found that paradoxical reaction with "hone in on," which several
>>people have insisted to me was the correct form and "home in on" made
>>no sense at all.  I believe we've discussed this one before.  I
>>noticed that the edition of MWDEU that I have credits the earliest
>>usage to George H. W. Bush in a 1977 or 1978 campaign speech.  The
>>newer edition, I believe, traces it back at least another decade, but
>>I don't have that edition.
>
>see the ecdb discussion, with links to three Language Log pieces (one
>citing some ADS-L postings):
>   http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/48/hone/
>
>such reactions are routine with eggcorns that have become mainstream,

Back to "Welsh rabbit", assumed by more than half of my students in
my annual plebiscite to be an error ("corruption" or whatever) for
"Welsh rarebit", rather than the latter being an etymythological
formation from the former.

LH

>or nearly so, and sometimes with other eggcorns as well.
>
>arnold
>
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