[Ads-l] Child's misunderstanding: "the donzerly light"

[Laurence Horn]

Fromkin & Rodman's _Introduction to Language_ (a text for a very introductory linguistics course that I used to teach from, in the first of many editions that have since appeared) used "pullet surprises" as the category label for the motivated folk-reanalyses we now know and love as "eggcorns".  F&R begin by citing the datum Garson mentions below about the student and Eugene O'Neill.

LH


> On Apr 25, 2016, at 1:56 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> The following book is pertinent "Pullet Surprises" (1969) by Amsel
> Greene. It reportedly contains a collection of the malapropisms and
> other blunders produced by Greene's students.
> 
> In 1985 the Los Angeles Times ran a skeptical article about another
> more recent collection of student mistakes. Some "student errors" are
> really recycled jokes from previous decades. (Yet, students from
> different eras could make similar mistakes.)
> 
> Consider the following error that supposedly was made by a student:
> "In 1957, Eugene O'Neill won a Pullet Surprise."
> 
> The LA Times mentioned an earlier occurrence. (I haven't tried to
> trace it, yet.)
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> To date the phrase even further back, Mike Brennan of Pacific
> Palisades writes that in the book "Bigger and Better Boners: An
> Up-to-date Compendium of Errors Compiled from Classrooms and
> Examination Papers by Alexander Abington," 1952, he finds this: "A
> pullet surprise is given in America every year for the best writings."
> [End excerpt]
> 
> Here is a link to the LA Times article:
> 
> Date: February 27, 1985
> Article: 'Pullet surprise' mystery deepens: Malapropism or gin--it's a
> case of boos
> Byline: Jack Smith
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__articles.latimes.com_1985-2D02-2D27_news_vw-2D8930-5F1-5Fpullet-2Dsurprise&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=6gBR9PZjKZ6UfmL8RYyauiCneDlSfyn3YOdO1Mx7Lo0&s=GaLn--8Mskhum3a8TShKOtZfOIxk5xS_GyOc1JIEPrA&e= 
> 
> Garson
> 
> 
> On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 1:05 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>> "Donzerly light" was published in a humor column in 1954. Perhaps some
>> phrases depicted as childhood misunderstandings have been deliberately
>> constructed to appear in wordplay jokes. On the other hand, some
>> genuine childhood misunderstandings might have been shared as jokes or
>> placed into comedy routines. Perhaps the joke below evolved via
>> embellishment.
>> 
>> Date: July 30, 1954
>> Newspaper: Detroit Free Press
>> Newspaper Location: Detroit, Michigan
>> Article: Sunny Side
>> Byline: James S. Pooler
>> Quote Page 3, Column 1
>> Database: Newspapers.com (Publisher Extra)
>> 
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> From Lansing, Jay Bundenthal writes, to ask if you folks had heard
>> about Mr. Donzerly, the inventor, who had just invented a new
>> underwater light for deep sea divers.
>> 
>> Hired a local diver named Jose Santos to try it out.
>> 
>> After Jose had got down a good depth, Mr. Donzerly called him on the
>> intercom and sang, "Jose, can you see by the Donzerly light?"
>> [End excerpt]
>> 
>> Garson
>> 
>> 
>> On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 12:34 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at mst.edu> wrote:
>>> Yesterday a family friend drew "donzerly light" to my attention-- reportedly mentioned in a Reader's Digest article years ago (exact number: ?) as an example of a child's misunderstanding the lyrics of The Star Spangled Banner ("the dawn's early light").
>>> The child misunderstood "donzerly as an adjective describing "light." Btw, Google shows there's actually a book with the title "The Donzerly Light" (2010; by Ryne Douglas Pearson).
>>> 
>>> Gerald Cohen
>>> P.S. Also, a Mondegreen came up in the conversation; "a nominal egg" (an arm and a leg), referring to an exorbitant cost.
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> 
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> The American Dialect Society - https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=6gBR9PZjKZ6UfmL8RYyauiCneDlSfyn3YOdO1Mx7Lo0&s=L5PxEQb64Et3cm41nNmfzH9-oRV5PooMta7SIOhXlqI&e= 

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