Re: eggcorn on degrassi

in article <Xns96BFAD1C06190dfentonbwaynetinvali@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
david fenton <dXXXfenton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wonders:

>I'm having problems distinguishing eggcorns and malapropisms. I knew
>someone who, after a night of carousing would say "I really got
>comatoasted last night!" and she wasn't toing it on purpose, and had
>no idea why we all laughed uproariously. And then we all started
>using it ourselves.

>That is not really an eggcorn, is it?

no. it looks like a blend of "comatose" and metaphorical "toasted".
a splice blend, in fact.

as for eggcorns, they're a special type of classical malapropisms,
with semantic motivation lacking in the usual CM cases. but, as i
keep pointing out, the classifications are not always clear, mostly
because the "same" error can arise in different ways.

zotling


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