New Words

AARP’s January 2011 issue published 50 new words that are now “official.” Words like “cougar” and “chillax” were among them. I was fascinated by the word “eggcorn.” It is a noun that means “logical swap of words with similar sounds (from eggcorn for acorn).” Since much of our vocabulary is learned aurally, it makes sense to me. We are no longer a nation of readers.

I am reminded of similar “eggcorns’ from papers of former students. Instead of calling a whitish-blond haired child a towhead for “tow” which is soft yellow-white fiber made from flax, we often hear people say “toad head” or see them write “toe head.” It is a logical mistake. Another common one is “for all intensive purposes.” The correct expression is “to all intents and purposes,” but if one has only heard this expression, the wrong one can be understood. Finally, we often see “taking it for granite.” Does that mean mistaking Formica for granite? No, I think it was meant to be “taking it for granted.” Regrettably, some past students (not to be mistaken with “passed” students) have had problems with floppy “dicks” rather than “disks.”

Finally, there are the Spell-check-induced word errors. A busy individual may be conscientious enough to run Spell-check on a piece of writing but too busy to check on the meanings of words. Hence, I have often found a student becoming “aquatinted” with a friend instead of “acquainted” or his grandfather having an “antic” tractor instead of an “antique” one.

Have you heard any good “eggcorns” lately?