An eggcorn is a word or phrase that is mistakenly used for another word or phrase because it sounds similar and seems logical or plausible. Take the things that fall from oak trees in the fall. They’re acorns, but they sometimes get called eggcorns. I enjoy collecting the ‘eggcorns’ that I hear in conversation or read in books e.g., - far from the maddening crowd (cf. far from the madding crowd) - I’m chafing at the bit (cf. I’m champing at the bit) - I’m chomping at the bit (cf. I’m champing at the bit) - they lived in, like, this grovel (cf. hovel) - it’s not my kettle of tea (cf. kettle of fish / not my cup of tea) - so there’s light at the end of the rainbow? (cf. and a pot of gold at the end of the tunnel ) - the dog woofed down his food (cf. wolfed) - I stuck my head above the precipice [this one was in an actual published autobiography] (cf. parapet) - I’ve created a mirage (meant a mosaic) - nether the less (cf. nevertheless) - nilly-willy (cf. willy-nilly) - it’s a doggy-dog world (cf. dog-eat-dog) - it’s not rocket surgery (cf. rocket science / brain surgery). And not quite in the same category but striking nonetheless: “Keeping your head above water without getting it chopped off”.
It was raised to the ground I also once knew a girl who thought the bonjovi song "you give love a bad name" was "You give love a band aid"
'For all intensive purposes' makes me laugh. And "I'm biting my time." I've never understood this one, especially since I find it rhythmically harder to say than the correct "I couldn't care less" And the one that annoys me the most is: Duck tape. (and often it's not even duct tape but GAFFER TAPE! There's a BIG difference."
That's not an eggcorn, that's a mondegreen. A mondegreen is from a song lyric and usually distorts or destroys the original meaning, while an eggcorn can be from any source but should retain the basic meaning of the original phrase. From the OP's examples (one that I just learned I was using, eek!) the "chomping at the bit" vs. "champing at the bit" both indicate impatience (and given where the bit rests, I wonder why "champing" even exists as it seems to mean the same thing.) When Jimi Hendrix, however, seems to sing "'Scuse me, while I kiss this guy" it's a considerable change from the intended "...kiss the sky."
In fairness, I used to think the line "sail away with me" in the song "Island in the Stream" was actually "Go to Wetherby".
https://www.writingforums.org/threads/duct-taping-shatter-glass.168424/ Do you want to tell him, or shall I?
Perhaps the (correct) "champing at the bit" is a word from Olde English - like Chaucer times. Like some crazy phrases English has that have little discernible bearing on their meaning e.g., "The thief was still at large"; "How do you do" - to which the only correct response is "How do you do". Whenever I encounter such phrases and turns of phrase, I wonder how this could ever be explained to a second-language English speaker or a non-English speaker. I actually almost feel guilty for having such an abstruse language. They say German is a hard second language to learn, or French, but honesty I'd hate to learn English as a second language; there is so little rhyme and reason to its rules. Well you've taught me about mondegreens today - I hadn't even heard that word before, but I've certainly heard some mondegreens in my time and have even perpetrated some of my own. One I read about was: Our father charting Evan (cf. Our Father which art in Heaven). The song 'Unbreakable' by Jamie Scott has the line "When you lose your way and the fight is gone," but all you hear when he sings it is "When you lose your weight and the fat is gone, ". Listen for yourself!:
These made me LOL. Another one: A fragment of my imagination (cf. A figment of my imagination) Yes, this one has never made sense to me. I always thought "I could care less" was an Americanism, whereas British would say "I couldn't care less". But @Naomasa298 says duct tape is actually duck tape. What on earth I wonder is duck cloth?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_duck People who say "fraction" when they mean "faction" annoy me.
OK, maybe someone can tell me this. In Carl Douglas' Kung Fu Fighting, I hear: "Those KICKS were fast as lightning." Internet lyrics say: "Those CATS were fast as lightning." Which one is it?
For the longest time, I thought the line in the song Mr Brightside was, "Open up my eagle eyes." Eggcorns I hate: should of, could of, would of... GAH! Once I created an eggcorn that my friend caught: I was loathed to...
It is in the US, too. The original maker of the tape trademarked the term "Duck Tape," so other manufacturers had to call their product something else, and "duct tape" was the logical choice, since it could be used for sealing air ducts (at least temporarily).