Unfortunate typo of the day

[rivkat]

No, applicant, you probably don't have a flare for dramatic storytelling.  Or if you do I'm a bit concerned for the safety of our students and suggest you apply to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters instead.

Isn't there some word for homophones like this that sort of sound like they might be right, but aren't?  (See also take the reigns.)

Comments

[onyxlynx]

Hey, that reminds me; rain/rein/reign is my next foray into the usage minefield!

[kickair8p]

First time I read this, I was looking for the problem with "dramatic". ::headdesk::

~

[vass]

They might be wearing their very fashion-forward dramatic storytelling trousers.

[jenrose]

I saw a doozy yesterday...

Trust me, no matter how much you loathe the process, I assure you, you do NOT have a "laundry shoot".

[veejane]

They're homophones = sound-alikes. Homonyms (name-alikes) are spelled alike but mean different things, i.e. when they're jarring it's because only one of the meanings is appropriate in context, and you guessed wrong.

I grew up exposed to a many-vowels dialect, but I suspect that the reason I use that dialect now (my grandmother's moreso than my parents') is because the fine distinctions between vowels reduce the frequency of homophony. "Affect" and "effect" sound nothing alike! "Erin" and "Aaron" are two completely different names!

[rivkat]

Thanks, correction taken--but I really want a name for the homophone that sounds plausible, the way "take the rains" isn't.

[veejane]

I know eggcorn is often used for a mis-heard or ignorantly reinterpreted word, but this is kind of like... "take the reigns" isn't THAT plausible! And yet people say it, without questioning how or why it makes any sense.

("Tow the line" is a good eggcorn, though.)

[brownbetty]

I had to be convinced it wasn't “have another thing coming” which somehow seemed a lot more logical to me than “another think.” (Or maybe just a lot more grammatical.) Like, your mistaken idea will lead you astray, something will happen to you! rather than you will rethink this! which of course, most people don't, until something thing happens.

[sothcweden]

That error made me giggle. Thanks for sharing. However, I have no suggestions about what to call that. We could make one up? malaphonism?

[rivkat]

Another commenter said that "eggcorn" is often used to describe misheard/misunderstood words like this, but I like malaphonism a lot.

[tehomet]

There should be a word for them, but there isn't AFAIK. I know there's faux amis (not sure I'm spelling that right, sorry) in French, where it looks like a word is correct but it isn't, e.g. 'joie' looks like 'jolly' and might make sense in that way in a particular context, but actually means 'pretty'. Can't think of any similar term in English, though.