Official News - page 10

ON THE WEB: THE EGGCORN DATABASE

by Hazed

English is a great language: there are so many words that mean almost, but not quite the same thing that it allows enormous flexibility. Working on a text game, it's just as well I do love the language.

Sometimes, when people get words wrong, they can provide amusement or even insight. Eggcorns are a particular type of language error - not just typos or mistakes, but linguistic misunderstandings that are more satisfying or poetic than the correct word or expression. For example: talking about a "lame man" instead of a "layman", or saying that "chickens are coming home to roast" instead of "roost". These confused sayings do have some logic to them. The name, eggcorn, is itself an eggcorn: it's a misunderstanding of "acorn", the seed of the oak tree that is egg-shaped. If you had never seen the word acorn written down, then eggcorn would be a good stab at it.

Eggcorns were first described in 2003 and since then, linguists have been avidly collecting them. My favorite of the recent discoveries is "lip-sing" instead of "lip-sync" - there is a beautiful logic to the idea that miming to a record is singing with the lips rather than not the voice.

If you enjoy the flexibility of the English language then you will have an entertaining time looking through the Eggcorn Database.

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