Definition:
A word or phrase that is used by mistake, usually because it is a homophone or sounds similar to the original word or phrase. Eggcorns often involve replacing an unfamiliar word with a more common word. See also: malapropism.
Etymology:
From a misspelling of acorn, coined by linguist Geoffrey K. PullumExamples and Observations:
- Skimp milk for skimmed (or skim) milk
"He also wants women to drink a glass of skimp milk for a dash of calcium."
(Nancy Alfaro, "The Dancer's Diet," Cheek2Cheek Dance Studio) - garbledygook for gobbledygook
"In some ways I like it better than Trailblazers because it has a lot of practice exercises and less garbledygook."
(enna99, "Math," 3rd Grade Teachers, January 27, 2008) - upmost for utmost
"In the text was the phrase "With Utmost Courage," etc. When we checked the original script and the engraving, it had come out "With Upmost Courage." When this was discovered, I was almost treated to one of General Stack’s thorough reaming outs and those who knew him will recall that he was most capable in this aspect.
"Fortunately, the G-1, Bob Travis came to my rescue with a dictionary and it was agreed that the UTMOST and UPMOST meant about the same under the circumstances, and it also was too late to make a change in the inscribed text."
(Ben Wilson, Jr., "Upmost Was the Utmost," 36th Infantry Division Association, 1999) - "It would be so easy to dismiss eggcorns as signs of illiteracy and stupidity, but they are nothing of the sort. They are imaginative attempts at relating something heard to lexical material already known."
(Geoffrey K. Pullum) - "'Mind-bottling,' 'jar-dropping,' and 'lame man’s terms' are all eggcorns--a type of common and somewhat logical language goof named after a misspelling of 'acorn.'"
(Mark Peters, "Mark Peters on Eggcorns," Good, April 2008)
Pronunciation: EG-korn
