eggcorn

[Charles C Doyle]

A student just reported on a test that the Elizabethan age produced a "shipload" of sonnets.

"Shitload" (or "shit load") is well attested, with millions of Google hits, in the sense of 'immense quantity'.

Google shows quite a number of instances of "shipload" in that sense, decorum possibly encouraging a mishearing.

--Charlie

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