eggcorn: saddled -> straddled

[Ronald Butters]

I remember this the way Wilson does. But then I never had printed lyrics, only Gene Autry's pedestrian voice and a low-fidelity sound reproduction (AM radio, or maybe a 78 RPM platter with a worn needle). And [ol] and [on] are almost identical, differing only by the nasalization of [n] versus [l], and particularly the position before the stressed first syllable of "saddle," both an [l] and an [n] would be virtually deleted. Semantically, both "old" and "own" make sense.


On Jan 29, 2012, at 12:27 AM, Neal Whitman wrote:

>>> http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/gingrich-campaign-traveling-press-own-damn-ride-014411649.html
>>> "The reporters on the bus, now straddled with an unexpected new cost,
>>> fumed."
>>> 
>>> Turns out this is a very common eggcorn -- I found recent examples
>>> from such sources as Dow Jones, Reuters, the Financial Times, and the
>>> New York Post. Into the database it goes:
>>> 
>>> http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/1114/straddle/
>>> 
>>> --bgz
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Ben Zimmer
>>> http://benzimmer.com/
>>> 
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
>> 
>> Are you old enough ti remember that old song, "Don't Fence Me In"? It
>> had a verse,
>> 
>> "Let me saddle my old straddle
>> Underneath the western skies"
>> 
>> --
>> -Wilson
> 
> I believe it was "Let my straddle my own saddle".
> 
> Neal
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org