Eggcorn

Originally posted on Peachleaves.

You guys, I learned a new phrase for weird language behavior: eggcorn! How did I never hear of this before? Particularly since they’re a useful tool for writers of crossword puzzles.

Now I know that saying chalk full and chock it up are not malapropisms but eggcorns. I like this better; now it’s a quirk, a side effect of speaking a language with zany inconsistent pronunciation rules, the flip side of the “book pronouncer” problem that is more common amongst my bookish peers. (If there’s an adorable, punny term for those of us who still aren’t really sure if it’s monastery or monastery, I don’t yet know it.)