[Ads-l] popular eggcorn for poplar

[W Brewer]

RE: poplar > popular  as an eggcorn.
     Rather than trying to grow acorns on a poplar tree, I'd say it's a
case of hypercorrection of a perceived colloquial to the common standard.
     <poplar (tree)> is perceived as the dysphonic, non-standard
pronunciation of <popular> [POP-ler], which must be replaced by the
attractive, okay-sounding, standard [POP-yuh-ler]. Lexical frequency a
critical factor: poplar tree (very low freq) vs. popular (very high freq).
     Cf. regular [regler],  particular [perticler].
     *Poplarity (characteristics of the poplar tree).

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