And where did "berk" come from? Cockney rhyming slang. It's short for "Berkshire hunt" which rhymes with a vulgar word for a lady part. Now you know.
And apparently that word isn't nearly as insulting in Britain as it is in America, where it will get you slapped at the very least.
"Berkeley hunt" rather than Berkshire hunt - but curiously, "Berkeley" is pronounced "Bark-lee", while "berk" rhymes with "work".
Huh. I had a couple of Brits on another message board tell me it's not very bad, about like calling somebody a dork. Maybe they were pranking me?
It's more offensive than dork, but it very much depends on context. When I worked in London, that word was bandied around the office regularly. Whereas if you walked up to someone in the street and called them that, you're likely to get punched in the mouth. Call a policeman a dork, and he's probably going to be mildly amused. Call him that word, and it won't go well.
They are good for humorous purposes. For instance, I sometimes say "There's something rotten in Detroit" because it's a quote by Maxwell Smart. And in the video game "Blue Estate", there's a bungling character who keeps saying things like "Let sleeping dogs be bygones" and "It's not rocket surgery". However, if someone seriously writes "public hair" because he doesn't know it's really "pubic hair", then he just makes himself look like a complete moron.
"It's not rocket surgery" is a classic mixed metaphor. I use it often -- not in writing, but in everyday speech. Obviously, it's a combination of "It's not rocket science" and "It's not brain surgery."
I guess this could be an eggcorn. The second sentence in the introduction to a certain First Lady's PhD dissertation reads: The needs of the student population are often undeserved, resulting in a student drop-out rate of almost one third. Pretty sure she meant 'underserved'. It isn't often a one-letter misspelling changes the meaning of a sentence completely.
And that's the sort of typo that eludes Spell-Check. I wouldn't call it an eggcorn, though. If it were, a whole legion of typos... "pubic" for "public," for example ... would enter that category.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-13758789/Lucy-Letby-questions-Nadine-Dorries.html Norwich, United Kingdom12 hours ago So suspicion was raised because the death rate rose when she was on shift. Makes you think why the figure of post masters that were convicted went up after the new accounting system was put in place, but no one battered an eyelid. = batted an eyelid, not "battered".
I guess that, based on the below, people who say "They lived in this like grovel" when they mean " They lived in this like hovel" are committing a malapropism, not an eggcorn? Is there a difference between eggcorns not malapropisms ChatGPT said: ChatGPT Yes, there is a difference between eggcorns and malapropisms, though both involve the misuse of words or phrases. Eggcorns An eggcorn occurs when a person substitutes a word or phrase with a similar-sounding one that seems to make sense, often in a logical or plausible way. The term "eggcorn" itself comes from someone mishearing "acorn" as "eggcorn," which, while incorrect, is understandable because an eggcorn could describe the shape of an acorn. Example of an Eggcorn: Saying "for all intensive purposes" instead of "for all intents and purposes." The substituted phrase in an eggcorn often maintains some degree of meaning or logic, even though it's incorrect. Malapropisms A malapropism occurs when a person uses a word that sounds similar to the correct word but is completely wrong in context, often leading to humorous or absurd results. The term comes from a character named Mrs. Malaprop in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play The Rivals, who was known for this type of mistake. Example of a Malapropism: Saying "He is the pineapple of politeness" instead of "He is the pinnacle of politeness." In malapropisms, the substituted word typically makes no logical sense in the context. Key Differences Logic and Context: Eggcorns usually make some logical sense within the context, while malapropisms typically do not. Intent: Eggcorns are often based on a misunderstanding of the original phrase but are still somewhat logical. Malapropisms, on the other hand, are usually just a misuse of a word that happens to sound similar but is incorrect and illogical in the given context.
The two common ones that annoy me the most are "mute point" and "fractions" instead of "factions". I mean, it sort of makes sense but still...
Me reciting lyrics to any song I've ever heard... Half of what I say will be eggcorns and malapropisms.
There's a whole chapter on that subject in Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs, a book which I still consider his masterpiece.
