soft-petal (was: bridle/bridal)

[Laurence Horn]

At 2:02 AM +0100 6/1/09, Chris Waigl wrote:
>On 29 May 2009, at 18:01, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>At 9:37 AM -0700 5/29/09, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
>>>On May 28, 2009, at 8:25 PM, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>>>>
>>>>The ECDB has "backpeddle" and "soft-peddle":
>>>>
>>>>http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/175/backpeddle/
>>>>http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/455/soft-peddle/
>>>>
>>>>These should probably be combined into one entry with other examples
>>>>of "pedal" -> "peddle".
>>>
>>>each of these entries has a rationale for "peddle" in it.
>>
>>As does "soft-petal" (since they are, after all).  I first
>>encountered this in a student paper and then began using it in
>>problem sets.  I see it's not in the ECDB.
>>
>>The first page of "soft-petalled" on google is dominated by
>>non-eggcorns (soft-petalled flowers, roses, blooms and such), but
>>eventually the eggcornish occurrences pop up, and it shows up in
>>other verb forms as well:
>>
>>=======================
>>Indeed it's not absent from the scriptures but it's tended to be soft
>>petalled in recent years with this idea of a God out there...
>>
>>I told her that I don't want to be around him anymore, but I
>>soft-petaled the truth, I know.
>>
>>It tells us that we do not need to soft-petal the demands of Christ
>>in order to gain Him disciples.
>>
>>Also, once a buyer has decided they like a home, it is probably much
>>easier to soft-petal the defects the inspectors flag.
>>
>>If you provoke another, you'll decide to soft-petal the situation.
>>[from horoscope]
>>
>>Given this soft-petalling and your reluctance to answer in the first
>>place, I'm sniffing some Osama sympathy here.
>>
>>If the media is starting to admit it, then they're recognizing a
>>problem and are on their way to stopping their soft-petalling these
>>acts of violence
>>=====================
>>
>>There are puns, to be sure ("No soft-petaling: Daisy [Fuentes] has
>>strong opinions", news story header), but the examples above are
>>apparently quite sincere, and entirely flower-unrelated.  Of course
>>they could be simple misspellings, but I'd wager most of the writers
>>tacitly take the verb to allude metaphorically to the softness of
>>petals (rather than the dampening effect of the musical foot-lever).
>>
>
>Yes, the pedal/petal/peddle complex needs some unified ECDB treatment,
>but it's all a bit of a mess. Do people who write "petal" think of the
>things on flowers? Those who write "peddle" of selling? There are
>loads of Ghits for "rose peddles" and "rose pedals", and I see no
>eggcornish explanation for these. So at the very least there's a
>superposition of two effects: eggcornish reshapings, and plain old
>spelling insecurity/variance.
>
Sounds plausible to me, but my wager above depends on the specific
plausibility of associating the activity of soft-pedaling with the
softness of petals* (as well as, on the negative side, the
unfamiliarity of piano/organ pedals).  I don't think there's anything
corresponding to that in the orthographic occurrence of "rose
pedals/peddles".

LH

*Note, for example, the myriad hits for "soft-petalled" as an
adjective that does in fact refer to having soft petals, rendering
the shift to the verb form ("soft-petaled the truth", "soft-petalling
the acts of violence", etc.) a natural (though mistaken) inference of
metaphorical extension.

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