palate

[Victor Steinbok]

[Resending without HTML... ugh!]

As much as I play the amateur most of the time, I am aware of the
distinction. Whether the error is an eggcorn or a mere spelling error in
the particular quoted passage is almost beside the more general point.

It's /sometimes /a spelling error. I don't believe it is /always /a
spelling error. I've actually asked some people if they intended to
write "palette" and what they meant by that and the explanation I
sometimes got was that it's like "tasting different colors". This is why
I made the distinction between palate 1. and palate 2. The former is
always just a spelling error. Being an ESLer, I'm always sensitive to
such issues. I don't believe we have a category "sometime eggcorn", so
it's just an eggcorn, with the caveat that sometimes it's just a
spelling confusion.

A related story. I had someone connect with me on LinkedIn some time
ago. The woman listed her current occupation as the "Principle" of a
company. I thought, maybe it's a typo and this was meant to be
"Principal X" title that somehow got corrupted. I asked what the title
meant. In an ensuing email exchange I eventually asked her if she
intended "principle" or "principal". She stuck with "principle" and
specifically rejected "principal", because, she said, she's in charge of
things, like "the principle scientist". I let that go.

Here's the job description:

> Principle
> XXX
> January 19XX – Present
> Negotiation consulting and training with global clients. Teach basic
> negotiation skills, negotiation with emotional intellgence, advanced
> negotiation and have recently started a negotiation boot camp. Work
> with groups, one on one and conduct key notes.

The company has many employees, so it's not just a way to express that
this is a sole proprietorship. Nor did she start the company, so we
can't say that she was the source. She is, however, in charge, although
the company also has a President (who's been with the company 5 years
longer) and a CEO. This is a Harvard graduate, by the way, and a former
teacher. As Wilson says, youneverknow.

VS-)

On 5/25/2012 11:39 PM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
> On May 25, 2012, at 8:20 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>
>>     I was surprised not to find the palate/palette alteration in the
>>     Eggcorn Database, as IME it has been quite common.
> yes, it's common, but it's just a spelling confusion.  there's no evidence of any semantic reanalysis here.
>
> "eggcorn" doesn't mean 'spelling mistake'.
>
> arnold

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