Eggcorns

The article From Little Eggcorns on The Oxford Times is really interesting. I laughed the other day when I heard someone refer to a person as "an escape goat" instead of "a scapegoat". I also think it's funny when people say "for all intensive purposes" instead of "for all intents and purposes." Slightly different meanings there...

I enjoy finding funny spelling errors, too. For instance, when people get mixed up with words that sound the same but are spelled differently. Awhile back when I was looking to buy some luggage, I came across a description that lauded the design of the suitcase because it made it easy to maneuver in the "isles". Now, either the writer and copyeditor don't know their aisles from their isles, or the "a" was just dropped somehow, but it makes for a pretty funny picture. Can't you just imagine someone dragging their wonderfully designed suitcase all over a tropical paradise because it's that easy?

It's easy to see how people get mixed up, though. One eggcorn that I always hit is "give up the ghost". For some reason, I always want to say "give up the goat", which according to the article is a common one. I probably say others, but have no idea that I'm saying (or writing) them.