Egged On

Linguistically, an eggcorn is corruption of a word or phrase. Common examples include “curve your enthusiasm” (instead of curb), “escape goat” (instead of scapegoat), “for all intensive purposes” (instead of intents and purposes) and “biting my time” (instead of biding). These are common and, for pedants like me, correcting them is a source of almost erotic pleasure. Eggcorn is itself a corruption of acorn, but mustn’t be confused with a mondegreen. But we don’t have time to get into that right now. Another eggcorn is “tenderhooks”, instead of the correct tenterhooks. Everybody knows the feeling - waiting for a doctor’s diagnosis, to know if you’ve passed the Motor Vehicle exam or wondering if your new paramour, the saucy Miss Elspeth Vundardeets from the neighbouring estate will murmur assent to your romantic entreaties. One is on tenterhooks. But what does it mean, exactly?