Comments on: Are We Giving Free Rei(g)n to New Spellings? http://blog.oup.com/2007/10/corpus-2/ Introducing brilliant authors to the blogosphere. Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:43:07 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: How Do "Miss Steaks" Go Unnoticed? It's Along Story : OUPblog http://blog.oup.com/2007/10/corpus-2/comment-page-1/#comment-60172 How Do "Miss Steaks" Go Unnoticed? It's Along Story : OUPblog Thu, 08 Nov 2007 14:19:05 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/2007/10/corpus-2/#comment-60172 [...] a quick note for anyone who might still be concerned (based on the recent ABC News piece on National Dictionary Day) that OUP is blithely adding new spellings of words to its dictionaries [...] [...] a quick note for anyone who might still be concerned (based on the recent ABC News piece on National Dictionary Day) that OUP is blithely adding new spellings of words to its dictionaries [...]

]]> By: KR Blog » Blog Archive » Short Takes http://blog.oup.com/2007/10/corpus-2/comment-page-1/#comment-53101 KR Blog » Blog Archive » Short Takes Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:51:23 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/2007/10/corpus-2/#comment-53101 [...] statistics behind the institutionalization of corrupt [...] [...] statistics behind the institutionalization of corrupt [...]

]]> By: Paul http://blog.oup.com/2007/10/corpus-2/comment-page-1/#comment-53047 Paul Fri, 19 Oct 2007 12:08:58 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/2007/10/corpus-2/#comment-53047 The Yeats quote could be an intentional double-meaning, a type of pun. But I submit that "free reign" is simply wrong, and always will be, because of the original meaning of "free rein". Spelling errors, caused by ignorance of the correct spelling/meaning, should not mean that the ignorant version should become an accepted version by the dictionary, simply because a lot of people use it. That isn't "living language", it's the result of poor education. Humph .... The Yeats quote could be an intentional double-meaning, a type of pun. But I submit that “free reign” is simply wrong, and always will be, because of the original meaning of “free rein”. Spelling errors, caused by ignorance of the correct spelling/meaning, should not mean that the ignorant version should become an accepted version by the dictionary, simply because a lot of people use it. That isn’t “living language”, it’s the result of poor education. Humph ….

]]> By: Ben Zimmer http://blog.oup.com/2007/10/corpus-2/comment-page-1/#comment-52740 Ben Zimmer Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:55:14 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/2007/10/corpus-2/#comment-52740 John: I agree that <i>vocal chord</i> isn't the best example, since <i>cord</i> and <i>chord</i> (in their various senses) have been influencing each other for quite a long time. And in metaphorical extensions, it often seems like multiple senses of <i>c(h)ord</i> are at play. (I'm reminded of Lincoln's famous line about "the mystic chords of memory.") This was obviously too much to get into for a two-minute news feature! As for <i>rein/reign</i>, there's been some mutual influence between those two as well. Check out the <a href="http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/34/reign/" rel="nofollow">entry</a> on the Eggcorn Database, where you'll learn among other things that Yeats once wrote about "dropping the reigns of peace and war." John: I agree that vocal chord isn’t the best example, since cord and chord (in their various senses) have been influencing each other for quite a long time. And in metaphorical extensions, it often seems like multiple senses of c(h)ord are at play. (I’m reminded of Lincoln’s famous line about “the mystic chords of memory.”) This was obviously too much to get into for a two-minute news feature!
As for rein/reign, there’s been some mutual influence between those two as well. Check out the entry on the Eggcorn Database, where you’ll learn among other things that Yeats once wrote about “dropping the reigns of peace and war.”

]]> By: John Cowan http://blog.oup.com/2007/10/corpus-2/comment-page-1/#comment-52709 John Cowan Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:03:27 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/2007/10/corpus-2/#comment-52709 <i>Vocal chord</i> is actually not a very good example of all this eggcorning, because <i>cord</i> and <i>chord</i> are etymological doublets (from Greek <i>chorde:</i> 'string'), and there is a huge amount of variation between them; the OED lists <i>notoc(h)ord, spinal c(h)ord, spermatic c(h)ords,</i> and even <i>umbilical c(h)ord</i>. To make matters worse, the musical <i>chord</i>, says OED, is properly from <i>accord</i>, and is so spelled by confusion with <i>chord</i> in its now-archaic meaning 'string of a musical instrument'. <i>Free reign</i> is a much better example: this can't be seen as a semantic extension of <i>reign</i> to overlap some of the meanings of <i>rein</i>, as nobody is likely to confuse the two outside this phrase; there are only trivial numbers of ghits for (say) "rein of King" or "pulling on the reigns". Vocal chord is actually not a very good example of all this eggcorning, because cord and chord are etymological doublets (from Greek chorde: ’string’), and there is a huge amount of variation between them; the OED lists notoc(h)ord, spinal c(h)ord, spermatic c(h)ords, and even umbilical c(h)ord.

To make matters worse, the musical chord, says OED, is properly from accord, and is so spelled by confusion with chord in its now-archaic meaning ’string of a musical instrument’.

Free reign is a much better example: this can’t be seen as a semantic extension of reign to overlap some of the meanings of rein, as nobody is likely to confuse the two outside this phrase; there are only trivial numbers of ghits for (say) “rein of King” or “pulling on the reigns”.

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