"Kubla Khan and Ollie"

[Laurence Horn]

On Nov 22, 2013, at 8:45 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> I remember them, although distantly; but why is this an eggcorn?

Well, maybe rather a malapropism.  I thought it was an eggcorn because I was assuming that Francesa had a mental lexicon entry for "Kubla Khan" and not for "Kukla (the clown)" or "Fran (Allison)", but you're right in questioning my characterization, since Kubla Khan doesn't rationalize or motivate the expression, unless you assume he'd have make a good partner for a dragon (albeit a puppet dragon).  But let's go with Mrs. Malaprop.

LH

>
> Joel
>
> At 11/22/2013 04:05 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>> Uttered by Mike Francesa, normally a sports talk host on WFAN but
>> today reminiscing about television broadcasts on and about November
>> 22, 1963.  (You young whippersnapper will want to google "Kukla,
>> Fran, and Ollie" to see what this is an eggcorn for; it was a
>> favorite show of mine some years before '63, and indeed it seems to
>> have been off the air after 1957.)
>>
>> LH
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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