Many schwas

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Mar 24, 2009, at 2:24 PM, Herb Stahlke quoted Tom Zurinskas --

I'm more than hoppy-horse interested after dedicating myself to
rewriting the English language and writing four books analyzing it ...

and responded:
>
> "hoppy-horse":  Do we have a new eggcorn?

apparently so.  you can find some traditional hobby horses offered for
sale (e.g. on Craigslist) under the name "hoppy horse".

but things are more complicated than that.  there are at least two non-
traditional play objects available under the name "hoppy horse":

1. a piece of playground equipment made by Steelcraft.  it bounces
(i.e. "hops") on a sturdy steel spring.  in addition to hoppy horses,
the company also offers a hoppy pony, hoppy racehorse, hoppy duck,
hoppy chipmunk, hoppy turtle, and hoppy frog.

2. an inflatable toy horse -- one tradename is the Rody Hoppy Horse --
that can be used in hoppy horseracing (there are some cute photos and
film clips).

the complexity is that the names for 1 and 2 might have arisen from a
reshaping of "hobby horse" (that is, as an eggcorn) or through a
deliberate play on words.  or one on some occasions, the other on
others.  but once you have hoppy horses, the way is open for hoppy
ducks and the like.

arnold

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