Eggcorns

[tedster]

What's an "eggcorn"? The name comes from a misspelling of the word "acorn" that has a kind of new logic embedded in it.

Benn Zimmer of the Oxford University Press has an informative blog post about this kind of shift in our language -- spellings of common phrases that start out as incorrect shifts from the original, but end up taking over. Good for wordsmiths to get a handle on this kind of thing:

Original Phrase -- Evolved Eggcorn
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sleight of hand -- slight of hand
fazed by -- phased by
home in on -- hone in on
a shoo-in -- a shoe-in
bated breath -- baited breath
free rein -- free reign
chaise longue -- chaise lounge
vocal cords -- vocal chords
just deserts -- just desserts
fount of knowledge/wisdom -- font of knowledge/wisdom
strait-laced -- straight-laced

[blog.oup.com...]

The web seems to have accelerated this kind of shifting, with terms like "lost leader" and "take a new tact" springing up all over the place! But if I want my content to appear authoritative and trusted, I want to stay away from eggcorns until the new usage solidly replaces the original.