Opinion
Question: is it hunker or bunker down? Card sharp or card shark? A glimpse of the wordy queries in March’s mailbag. Matthew Holle submitted those first stumpers, champing (or chomping) at the bit for a verdict.
Verdicts plural, since Matthew had sent several eggcorns as we know such muddles. Distinct from malapropisms, like kit and cavoodle, eggcorns are misspoken phrases with semantic justification, like adopting the feeble position in light of global news. The eggcorn tag derives from a kid’s canny revamp of acorn, as the oak’s ovoid nut is indeed corn-coloured. The bungle adds up.
As does bunker down, the errant offshoot of hunker down, where hunker is the Scottish term for hunch, while bunker is the plausible spot the hunching may happen. Just as pool sharks have verbally corrupted the original card sharps, where sharper (a cheat) is the same source as shark, a hustler.
So then, in eggcorn fashion, let’s riffle (or rifle) a few more quandaries, as this month’s inbox is rife (or ripe) with them. John Crossley, say, fretted over the direction of chills: “Occasionally chills ran down my spine, but lately they seem to be running up people’s spines? Has the world turned upside-down?” Down is the default flow, according to the English corpus, but maybe up is enjoying an uptick.
Also with anatomy, Brian Doughan had a pedestrian beef: “Why do we say ‘put your best foot forward’ when we’ve only got two? Shouldn’t we say ‘put your better foot forward’? Yes, I’m a pedant.” Your words, Brian, but your grammar is grounded. Unless addressing a quadruped, better is your best option. Though good luck in trying to eradicate the misstep from our vernacular.
Then we have semantic gaps, where Ruth Farr seeks the opposite of demonise. “In advocacy, demonising means describing something as worse than it actually is.” So what’s the opposite, describing something as better than the truth? Politics? Marketing? Perhaps angelise is a truth – or euphemism – that English needs. Suggestions welcome.
For Tom Schambron, he seeks the opposite of exceed. “Is there a neat antonym for the verb? Go under or stay below are unsatisfying.” Fall short? Fail to meet? Underperform? Workable in some contexts, though I can’t imagine our road toll “underperforming” our predictions.
Meanwhile, Luke Mills wondered why I called “the Wuthering Heights film an adaption of the Brontȅ novel rather than adaptation. Are both words correct?” They are, like orient over orientate, or preventive versus preventative, and I just favoured the less popular, putting my worse foot forward, perhaps.
Our language teems with these close cousins, like wiggle or wriggle room. Do you prefer among versus amongst? Amidst must feel like a wallflower compared with her party-girl cousin, Amid. Is it magic or magical? Numeric or numerical? This sub-tribe of adjectives is full of such coin-flips, where comic and comical bid for your affection. Electric or electrical? Elect one!
That said, some duos carry a vital distinction. Think historical (of the past) against historic, relating to history itself, from historic crimes to historic decisions. Like big language decisions and big language crimes – the sort that keep English on “tender hooks” every single day.
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David Astle is the crossword compiler and Wordplay columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He is a broadcaster on ABC Radio Melbourne.
