[Ads-l] Eggcorn: old stopping grounds

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Thanks for your insightful response, Peter R. I agree that the 1995
citation might have been a pun. That observation suggests that puns
might be a fun mechanism facilitating the creation of eggcorns.

While searching I saw an October 2, 1991 citation containing the
phrase "stopping grounds" that referred to a landing place for
migrating birds. I decided that was not an example of an eggcorn.

Here are two citations that I do not think are puns.

The 1993 citation uses the phrase "regular stopping grounds". The word
"stopping" does make sense within the article. Of course, the
substituted word is supposed to make some sense in an eggcorn. Maybe
this 1993 example is too weak or ambiguous.

The 2004 citation further below uses the phrase "her old stopping
grounds". I think this cite is a solid eggcorn example.

Date: April 1, 1993
Article: Readers love or hate the house cat
Newspaper: Press-Enterprise
Newspaper Location: Riverside, CA
Author/Byline: Bob Pratte, The Press-Enterprise
Section: Local, Page: B01
Database: NewsBank Access World News

[Begin excerpt]
Esther Wong of Hemet writes that she was able to tolerate neighborhood
cats until lots of them moved in four years ago.

"It wasn't long before we couldn't leave our front door open because
one of the cats made our flower bed its regular stopping grounds," she
writes. "Not only at our front door, but each cat found a spot in our
yard it liked."

She said she and her husband tried cleaning up the poop, but the cats
kept returning. They talked to their neighbors, but the cat problem
didn't end.
[End excerpt]


Date: July 19, 2004
Newspaper: Midway Driller
Newspaper Location: Taft, CA
Article: Former Taft native moves back to Taft to run business
Author/Byline: Matt Henry (Midway Driller Staff Writer)
Database: NewsBank Access World News

[Begin excerpt]
After spending the last 20 years in Bakersfield, former Taft resident
Julie Franks returned to her old stopping grounds last fall to be a
representative of the State Farm office in Taft.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 11:53 AM, Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Peter Reitan <pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Eggcorn: old stopping grounds
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Felix Potvin was a goalie=2C whose job is to "stop" the puck=3B so "stoppin=
> g grounds=2C" here=2C looks like an intentional pun.
> ________________________________
> From: ADSGarson O'Toole<mailto:adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: =E2=80=8E12/=E2=80=8E2/=E2=80=8E2015 7:21
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Eggcorn: old stopping grounds
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -------------------=
> ----
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Eggcorn: old stopping grounds
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ----
>
> old stomping grounds >> old stopping grounds
> alternative formulation:
> stomping grounds >> stopping grounds
>
> Spotted in the wild:
>
> Date: March 24=2C 1995
> Newspaper: Toronto Star
> Newspaper Location: Ontario=2C Canada
> Article: Potvin plans triumphant return 'I should be well-rested . . .
> should be better'
> Author/Byline: Paul Hunter
> Section: Sports=2C Page: E3
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Felix Potvin returns to his old stopping grounds tonight.
> Hungry for action after a forced March break=2C Toronto's No. 1
> netminder will be back between the pipes and=2C he vows=2C back on his
> game when the Leafs play host to the Winnipeg Jets.
> [End excerpt]
>
> While reading about "my old stomping grounds" I noticed an earlier shift:
> stamping ground >> stomping ground
>
> The semantics are closely aligned=2C so this earlier shift does not seem
> to correspond to an eggcorn.
>
> Garson
>
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