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Debate / defend / reject / submit examples here

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For the previous, now archived, list of suggested examples, see Talk:Eggcorn/Archive 6#Debate / defend / reject / submit examples here (old)

Note: Suggestions here that don't quote a reliable source can't be considered for inclusion on this page

How about:
  • What about "stump of approval" instead of "stamp of approval"? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2620:72:0:6480:0:0:0:DC (talk) 16:09, 14 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
    None of the above can be considered unless discussed in a reliable source. MichaelMaggs (talk) 20:03, 22 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  • On Wikipedia, I repeatedly encountered the phrase "an indefinitely blocked user avoiding their block", although what was meant was "evading" their block. The word "avoiding" in this phrase is also an example of an eggcorn, as it is plausible when used in the same context. 2A02:AB04:2AB:700:5C75:13F8:2995:36 (talk) 17:42, 22 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Not sure it is an eggcorn, as in that context 'avoid' and 'evade' mean very much the same thing. Anyway, though, user discussion on Wikipedia is not considered a reliable source for citation purposes. @ MichaelMaggs (talk) 20:02, 22 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    This dispute comes up often in Eve Online where star systems all have a "security rating" and police ("Concord") only patrol systems with 0.5 and higher security. You can avoid Concord entirely by spending your time in "low-sec" systems and that's a perfectly legitimate way to play. However, if you commit crime in "high-sec" and immediately dock with a station (or use other means) to evade Concord, your account gets suspended or banned. Avoidance is all about starting distant and staying distant from something with no specific intent. Evasion is all about starting close and intentionally becoming distant from something which has the specific intent to restrain you. Avoiding Concord is encouraged; evading Concord breaches the game rules. It's a very clear distinction but new players who don't understand the words can come to the wrong conclusion. In the Wikipedia ban context, avoiding the ban means spending their online time on other websites (or passively reading WP) whereas evading the ban means taking steps to circumvent the measures in place and persisting in actively editing WP. 49.181.176.222 (talk) 04:50, 8 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    It's also a bigger real-world issue with tax avoidance (legal) and tax evasion (illegal). Confusing two similar technical words doesn't really seem like an eggcorn, though. Belbury (talk) 09:28, 8 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  • The Killers sing the phrase "every once and a little while" in their song When You Were Young. This isn't a mondegreen since those are the actual lyrics. Nor is it a standard idiom (that's "every once in a little while"). It's something peculiar The Killers invented and a Google search for that phrase only turns up references to their lyrics. While this shows that the lyricist wasn't copying any established cohort of people who say "and a little while", it also means there aren't reliable sources for classifying this as an eggcorn. 49.181.176.222 (talk) 04:50, 8 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I was coming to this page because after learning about eggcorns I started examining phrases I use, I thought about it and I used to confuse "once in a while" with "once and a while". I looked it up on google and there was a suggestion of "once and a while vs once in a while" the phrase might contain another eggcorn as well. I also found in one article mentioning "once in awhile" being mentioned, so it might also be a common might be a misinterpretation.
    https://kris-spisak.com/writing-tip-every-once-and-a-while-vs-every-once-in-a-while/#:~:text=Reminder%3A%20%E2%80%9CEvery%20once%20in%20a,red%20pen%20at%20the%20offenders.
    https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/05/19/once-and-a-while/
    as an aside "damp squid" doesn't make sense, it seems more like a malapropism, squids like being damp and it wouldn't make sense in the context "the party went off like a damp squib" and "the party went off like a damp squid". The same goes for common examples "toe the line" for "tow the line", "death nail" for "death knell", "for all intensive purposes" for "for all intents and purposes" though I'm less strongly convinced about the first two. If I'm mistaken please lets discus, my understanding is the definition usually includes
    "An eggcorn is the alteration of a phrase through the mishearing or reinterpretation of one or more of its elements, creating a new phrase having a different meaning from the original but which still makes sense and is plausible when used in the same context."
    the still makes sense in context is what I think these examples don't follow, they also don't follow logic as in "damp squid" which I see logic and creativity also listed as requirements.
    "card shark" for "card sharp" is an example as it's creative, follows logic, and fits in context. like sharks are apex predators while someone who is excelling at slight of hand would also be at the apex of skill or sharp. I think at this point it might be a folk etymology. 24.185.252.30 (talk) 00:25, 10 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    • As to "every once and a little while", this is more of a mumpsimus than an eggcorn. To qualify as an eggcorn, a phrase should be meaningful, maybe even adding a richness to the original; e.g. "old-timer's disease" for "Alzheimer's disease".
    Paulmlieberman (talk) 15:00, 10 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    would "ripe with" and "rife with"/ "damp squid" and "damp squib" count as adding to the so called richness 24.185.252.30 (talk) 04:53, 28 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    "Rife with" sounds possible if you can cite a reliable source MichaelMaggs (talk) 09:03, 28 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • Noting "bone apple tea" here as a phrase that doesn't appear to fit the definition, but which has appeared in the article in the past and used to redirect here. (Wikipedia:Redirects_for_discussion/Log/2021_March_11#Bone_Apple_Tea made it a wiktionary redirect last year.) I don't think it's an eggcorn, as it isn't "plausible when used in the same context" in the way that the other phrases are. Perhaps there's an argument that in a conversation between two English speakers who don't speak any French, both the correct and misheard versions might seem equally plausible to them? But I feel like eggcorns have to have the angle where if the speaker stops to think superficially about what they've just said, the phrase makes logical sense to them ("it's a disease that old-timers get") and they conclude that they're right to keep using it. --Lord Belbury (talk) 15:01, 14 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    You're right - I hadn't read the definition of eggcorn closely enough when I thought of that example. The property of "making sense in its own right" is what makes a standard malapropism an eggcorn.
    Until someone makes a drink named "bone apple tea" that, when drunk, aides in increasing one's appetite or otherwise enjoyment of food, I don't think it counts as an eggcorn. PhotogenicScientist (talk) 21:52, 14 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Added by User:Bremps 15 December 2022‎. Cnilep (talk) 06:44, 15 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I think it's fairly reasonable. Marshall could mean "arrange or assemble (a group of people, especially soldiers) in order.", which would have plenty to do the suspension of ordinary civilian law. Can also refer to the head of the police department. It would be kind of plausible if it was actually spelt "marshall law". Bremps 06:48, 15 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I'm going to sleep soon, so I may respond in the morning. Bremps 06:50, 15 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]
With the sources cited being about the same single text message, we can't be sure how much its writer meant to type "Marshall" and was happy after some reflection that it was correct. It could just have been a failure of his phone's autocorrect feature.
("Marshal law" would seem a more likely eggcorn, if anything: "law imposed by marshals".) Belbury (talk) 10:09, 14 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Can you quote a reliable source? See note at top. MichaelMaggs (talk) 20:21, 14 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Doesn't create a new phrase which is plausible when used in the same context, so not an eggcorn. MichaelMaggs (talk) 08:50, 14 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
It seems plausible to me, a person saying "that's peaked my interest" thinking that it means "my interest has increased and is now at its peak". Dictionary.com records it as a misuse in another of their articles. --Belbury (talk) 09:08, 14 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, I'm absolutely convinced that it counts as one. But I'm trying to find a reliable source that definitively labels it as such. Most sources I find will list "peaked interest" as a misuse of the phrase, but do not cover the concept of an Eggcorn. As soon as I do, I think it should be good to add to the main list as long as there's not some weird procedure I'm missing here? Still new to editing so bear with me. PorcelainRope (talk) 21:34, 10 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]
As soon as I find a source explicitly labeling it as an eggcorn, that is. PorcelainRope (talk) 21:35, 10 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Linguistics Professor Arnold Zwicky mentions "peaked interest" as an Eggcorn on the Language Log, where the term Eggcorn originated. Would this satisfy you two as a valid source? I believe "peaked interest" is a relevant example of an eggcorn as it is easy to encounter online.
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001383.html
@MichaelMaggs
@Belbury
PorcelainRope (talk) 22:19, 10 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]


  • "butt naked" for "buck naked"
See also Archive 1, Archive 4, and Archive 6. Cnilep (talk) 03:58, 2 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Can you quote a reliable source? See note at top. MichaelMaggs (talk) 14:21, 8 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
https://grammarist.com/eggcorns/hairs-breadth/
i pulled this from the sources listed under the wikipedia article for "hair's breadth" so hopefully it's reliable enough to include here as well ~2026-14804-70 (talk) 17:06, 8 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
please let me know if another source is needed!! ~2026-14804-70 (talk) 06:00, 11 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ Nichols, Tom (2022-12-13). "The Republicans Need a Reckoning". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2022-12-15.
  2. ^ "GOP congressman tries, fails to explain away 'marshall law' text". MSNBC.com. Retrieved 2022-12-15.
  3. ^ Breuninger, Kevin. "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene texted Trump aide Mark Meadows about using 'Marshall law' after Jan. 6 riot, report says". CNBC. Retrieved 2022-12-15.
  4. ^ Am I Lack Toast And Tolerant? No, But You May Be Lactose Intolerant! https://www.betterlabtestsnow.com/am-i-lack-toast-and-tolerant/. Retrieved 29 November 2023. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

Language Log as a Source.

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The following blog, Language Log, was created by Mark Liberman and Geoffrey Pullum. It contains a trove of Eggcorn sightings, and the articles contained within are authored by credentialed linguistics professors. It should be noted that this same blog is where the concept of an Eggcorn was originally conceived, and is already used as a source on this page. I am creating this category to leave as helpful reference for the future in case anyone else is looking to verify Eggcorn examples.

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/

Additionally, linked below is a catalog of Eggcorns. It is not a reliable source, but the user-created entries often contain references to reliable sources. Someone might find this handy.

https://eggcorns.lascribe.net/

PorcelainRope (talk) 22:01, 10 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

jackarse/jackass

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I removed this example, as it is not an eggcorn, but rather an Anglicized spelling of the same word (see https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jackarse), as 'arse' is a British spelling/pronunciation of 'ass'. Bloodyviking (talk) 22:51, 14 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

I originally added it with a relevant reference (while not logged in, as User:~2026-15661-71).
According to Etymology Online, arse "buttocks" and ass "donkey" are Old English words. Jackass – originally and literally "adult male donkey" (whereas an adult female donkey = jenny) – was first recorded in 1727 (although the hyphenated form, jack-ass is probably a lot older).
In American English, the preferred spelling of arse became ass, because spellings everywhere were more flexible until about 150 years ago and because American pronunciation makes it rhyme with "pass" (not "parse"). And, presumably, alternatives like donkey were available and more often used, thus avoiding confusion – especially since one of the two usages of ass was a vulgarity.
Because it was most often a vulgarity, non-Americans would seldom have heard/seen the Americans saying /writing ass before attitudes/censorship relaxed in the late 20th century, by which time few English-speakers associated "donkey" with "ass". Hence the common (mis)understanding that ass always = arse.
Under non-American standard forms of English, the pronunciation of jackass – especially for anyone who can remember the word being used before the TV show – is invariably identical to the American pronunciation... Reinforcing why many (or even most) non-Americans still distinguish "arse" and "jackass"/"Jackass" in spelling and pronunciation.
It's no coincidence that Google Ngrams shows the very first occurrences, in print, of "jack-arse" and "jackarse" in the 1960s and often in the sense of it being an amusing spelling error. And it remained uncommon until the TV show became popular.
Hence, "jack-arse" and "jackarse" are plainly eggcorns resulting from (i.) a confusion of two root-words that are homophones in American English – and (ii.) a hypercorrection among some non-Americans (as alluded to in the citation I included in the original text)
The fact that some native speakers of English do not believe that it's an eggcorn is not a counterargument, (ironically) because that is exactly how an eggcorn comes into being.
@User:Bloodyviking
Grant | Talk 05:19, 15 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
@Grant65, I take your point, though I disagree with it. If you want to restore it, I won't object, though I will point out that the purpose of a list of eggcorns in this article is to give some examples of the phenomenon, not to provide an exhaustive list. By contrast, the Mondegreen article shows fewer than a dozen examples of English-language instances, and those are spread out in various sections of the article. Bloodyviking (talk) 17:51, 16 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you.
Grant | Talk 08:08, 19 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

autological?

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Somebody recently added this to the lede:

The word "eggcorn" is autological, as it is an alteration of the word "acorn".

Somebody else removed it, claiming it's not the case.

I would argue that the statement is unnecessary, and doesn't add to the quality of the lede.

However, "autological" refers to a word that exemplifies the thing it describes. So, as "eggcorn" is, in fact, an eggcorn, it is autological. Similarly, "mondegreen" is a mondegreen, so it too is autological. Bloodyviking (talk) 16:59, 26 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

As the editor who removed it, I'd say that both cases are words which are derived from words which possess the property that the words define, but which aren't autological in themselves. Somebody talking about the linguistic concept of the eggcorn, or singing deliberately about the concept of a mondegreen, has not misheard or misinterpreted the word. Belbury (talk) 17:12, 26 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]
Point well taken, but I would argue that the initial invention of the word "mondegreen" was in fact, a mishearing, which is to say, a mondegreen. Bloodyviking (talk) 17:29, 26 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]
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