One more round of reader eggcorns:
I’ve been enjoying the thread. And then earlier tonight during happy hour, a friend said: “My Mom has a heart on for Pope Francis.” I didn’t even bring attention to it, I just immediately thought, “I need to write the Dish!”
Another:
Someone said “Jew him down” around me when I was 15 and working in an antique store one summer. But I heard “chew him down.”
I figured it meant when you talk someone into giving you a lower price one something, when you haggle, your jaw is moving up and down. You’re chewing down the price. Chewing them down. Chew him down.
I didn’t have tons of cause to use the expression once I was no longer working in an antique store, but I did use it from time to time, as I like to go to junk sales and flea markets. I think I was nearly 25 when I used it in front of the right person – someone who gasped, looked me in the eye, and said, “I can’t believe you would say something like that.” I was completely mortified when she told me what I actually heard in that antique store when I was 15.
Another:
I once mentioned to my wife that there was a new tapas bar in town and that we should go there, to which she responded, “Why would you want us to go to a topless bar!”
Another:
I can’t believe it took me so long to remember my biggest eggcorn. I’ve been saying since I was a kid that, in cold weather, “It’s a bit nipply outside.”
And another:
Okay, I haven’t seen this one show up on The Dish yet. I work in a group that designs and operates cutting-edge satellite instruments. One of my co-workers is an engineer known for being the best worrier in our building that something might go wrong with the latest instrument. My favorite phrase he always uses whenever he wants to point out a possible problem with a design or plan we’ve come up with is to start by saying: “But the flaw in the ointment is … “
Another:
I’m a family law trial attorney and often hear clients complain about being “lamblasted” by their spouses, etc. in relation to their often caustic situations. I’ve always loved that, and I never correct them!
Another:
I’ve been greatly enjoying your threads on eggcorns, mostly because I feel like I’ve committed half of them myself. Here’s another: When I was a kid, growing up in DC in the ’80s, my parents were friends with a couple named Mary and Barry. They were always saying things like “we’re going out with Mary an’ Barry tonight,” etc. I spent a good portion of my childhood thinking my parents were great friends with the mayor!
Another:
As a physician, my all-time favorite eggcorn is “sick-as-hell anemia”.
One more:
Years ago my then three year old son was having a tantrum about something I have long since forgotten. Trying to make peace, I suggested he come join me for a nice bowl of chicken soup. “NO!,” he screamed. “OK, suit yourself,” says I. “No, YOU shoot YOUR-self!!,” came the outraged reply. Holy Moly. He has since grown into a kind and gentle young man.
Read all of the reader entries here.
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