Facebook: "The _mother-load_ of recordings!" [NT]

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Fri May 10 15:27:44 UTC 2013


The mother of all loads, obviously.

I'm for *granddaddylode.

JL


On Fri, May 10, 2013 at 5:31 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Facebook: "The _mother-load_ of recordings!" [NT]
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Wilson Gray wrote
> > Subject:      Facebook: "The _mother-load_ of recordings!" [NT]
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > x
> > --
> > -Wilson
>
> Arnold has this in the The Eggcorn Database - v. 0.5
>
> http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/531/motherload/
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> mother lode » motherload
> Classification: English
> Spotted in the wild:
>
>     “I registered for a few things. (After talking to R… it seems like
> we will indeed recover the motherload of all baby objects from her
> garage, leaving us not needing much stuff.)” (E-mail to Elizabeth
> Daingerfield Zwicky from a friend, October 2004)
>     “The motherload of cb info,…” (link)
>     “I found the Moso motherload! … I’ma happy man.” (link)
>
> Analyzed or reported by:
>
>     Anna, on this site (link)
>     Arnold Zwicky (The Fall Eggcorn Crop, on Language Log)
>
> “Load” is a great deal more familiar than “lode”, and the mother lode
> contains loads of (’lots of’) stuff, so the reinterpretation is
> understandable.
>
> There are also some cites with “motherload” reinterpreted as ‘a mother
> of a load, a huge load’: “Protect your computer from a motherload of
> viruses, spyware Web site, company offer free ways to protect PC…”
> (link)
>
> {End excerpt]
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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