PETRONA: Eggcorn of the week?

02 June 2007

Eggcorn of the week?

I came across a good eggcorn at work the other day. A colleague had sent an email to a couple of scientists to ask them to be interviewed for an article. The scientists replied that they would be happy to do so, but they were copying in an administrative assistant to the email exchange because she "keeps us on a tight lease".

The mind boggles (either way, actually).

Do you have any good examples of eggcorns?

2 Jun 2007 21:37:08 | Miscellaneous

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Isn't this what it is all about? Random Jottings of a Book and Opera Lover: Isn't this what it is all about?. Ah, the joys of blogging. I couldn't put it better myself than the post (at the link above) by Elaine -- Renaissance Woman, as Typepad famously called her. Elaine catches her train to work from Colchester to London in the morning at the same time as I catch mine from Kingston to London. She gets her coffee from Costa, I get mine from AMT. Her blog is full of her constructive, positive personality. I love reading about her reading, her life and her music appreciation. We share the odd tribute to Alan Rickman, Ian Botham and similar heroes of the modern world. How wonderful, that blogging has allowed me to meet her -- which I would never have done otherwise. CrimeFicReader-- if you are reading this post, please head on over to Elaine's blog, you'll see why when you read the article to which I link above.

Too much tragic realism? Reading the (Saturday) Times book supplement today (Sunday), I found much to catch my interest. Sometimes there is very little, or one article, but this week, for me, is a good one. The children's book review round-up (by Amanda Craig) included the title Fearless by Tim Lott, for readers aged 11, and the author's first children's book. According to the review, Little Fearless's mother is taken away by armed guards, but not before she has given her daughter three gifts. The girl is a laundress slave in an institute and helps the other girls by telling them stories. She escapes to tell the girls' families what is happening to them but they won't listen. Unwilling to let her friends down, Fearless returns to them three times, on each occasion giving them one of her mother's gifts. Eventually she is imprisoned in an underground room and dies in the arms of her best friend and betrayer. The review admiringly states: "This may sound grim, but it is gripping and one of the most original children's books I have read for some time. The awfulness of many English children's lives is insufficiently recognised....." and how much better is Fearless than "the fluff...