[quote=ewmayer;139166]"Peddle to the metal".[/quote]Perhaps ... vending machines that accept only coins, not paper money or credit cards?

[QUOTE=cheesehead;139169]Perhaps ... vending machines that accept only coins, not paper money or credit cards?[/QUOTE]
I thought it might be a reference to a marketing campaign aimed at hard rock fans [which would really have to be "peddle to the metal[i]heads[/i] to be correct, but I expect such grammatical subtleties would be lost on such a target audience], but your explanation seems at least as plausible.

[quote=ewmayer;139166]Perhaps that's a reference to the effects of a slow-acting purgative?

[/quote]
:smile:
If "laxadaisical" was a legitimate word, what would be
the grammatical term for it? Onomatopea (can't spell it)
doesn't quite fir.

[quote=davieddy;139254]:smile:
If "laxadaisical" was a legitimate word, what would be
the grammatical term for it?[/quote]Pun :smile:

[QUOTE=davieddy;139254]:smile:
If "laxadaisical" was a legitimate word, what would be
the grammatical term for it? Onomatopea (can't spell it)
doesn't quite fir.[/QUOTE]

The correct neologism for this type of inadvertent pun is "[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggcorn]eggcorn[/url]", coined by [url=http://158.130.17.5/~myl/languagelog/]LanguageLog's[/url] Geoffrey Pullum. Check out the LL [url=http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/]Eggcorn Database[/url] for lots of examples [you can also submit candidates there].

An example courtesy of my niece Beatrice, then 5 years old, apparently inspired by the visual similarity of a pinecone lying on the ground to a porcupine:

"corkupine".

[quote=davieddy;139254] Onomatopea (can't spell it)
[/quote]
I was doing fine up to the p. The vowels at the end should
have been oeia.

Now how do you spell "dire rear" again?
Is that a pun or not?:smile:

Is it just me or does this also strike others as an incorrect pronunciation?

Correct word: children
Good pronunciation: chilled-wren
Bad pronunciation: kids

I'm afraid you may be fighting a losing battle there.
At least it's preferable to "kiddies".
With two brothers and two sons, the term with which
I am most familiar is "boys".

[QUOTE=davieddy;139313]
Now how do you spell "dire rear" again?[/QUOTE]One of my favourite mis-spellings and one I use myself.

The correct term for such a construction is "eggcorn".

Paul

[quote=ewmayer;139277]

An example courtesy of my niece Beatrice, then 5 years old, apparently inspired by the visual similarity of a pinecone lying on the ground to a porcupine:

"corkupine".[/quote]

My favourite memories from my sons are:

(Elder) Wobblies for wallabies and kitchen for chicken.
(Younger) "Where are mine plissers?" (slippers).

[QUOTE=davieddy;139365]My favourite memories from my sons are:

(Elder) Wobblies for wallabies and kitchen for chicken.
(Younger) "Where are mine plissers?" (slippers).[/QUOTE]The first pair are malapropisms. The second is a Spoonerism.

I use malapropisms all the time, for humorous effect.

I also like using Spoonerisms for humour but the medication I'm on for trigeminal neuralgia has been giving me a hard lime with my turds of weight and I'm coming out with far too many spontaneous Spoonerisms 8-(


Paul