[Ads-l] on the eggcorn watch--"post phone"

[Dan Goncharoff]

As more and more people use software to dictate texts and e-mails and even
documents, there is a greater likelihood of bad or mistaken pronunciation
producing wrong words.

Whether the 'writer' takes the time to correct wrong words is another
matter.

DanG

On Sat, Aug 15, 2015 at 2:18 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      on the eggcorn watch--"post phone"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Just came across this in a header within a description of a survivorship =
> life insurance plan:
>
> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
> http://www.groco.com/readingroom/estate_survivorship.aspx
>
> Post Phone a Buy Sell
>
> If Joe and Bill were equal partners in a business, good planning would =
> have them meet with their attorney and accountant, put a value on the =
> business that each are happy with and have a buy-sell agreement drawn. =
> Fund the agreement with life insurance and the funds are assured for the =
> buy-out.
>
> However, what if Joe=E2=80=99s wife, Ann, is also active in the =
> business? If Joe dies, Ann would inherit Joe=E2=80=99s interest and =
> continue to work in the business as usual. In this case, it would make =
> sense to use a survivorship life insurance policy to insure both Joe and =
> Ann. The buy-sell agreement would be worded to trigger the buy-out at =
> the second of their deaths.
> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
> and here, from a usage list, is a serious question about whether it's =
> really "postpone" or "post phone":
>
> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
> http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/126477/postpone-or-postphone
>
> I was taught that the word postpone was spelled as I just spelled it, =
> but recently I have seen a rise in the spelling postphone (or post =
> phone). At first, I thought it was just a spelling error, but I have =
> begun to see it more and more in official contexts.
> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
> Other examples are not that hard to find, e.g. "The majority voted to =
> post phone the meeting." =20
>
> Some hits for "postphone" (spelled as one word) seem to be intentional =
> puns, but most seem to be just instances of the trend noted above.
>
> Whodathunk it?  [not listed in ecdb]
>
> LH=
>
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