5 Phrases You’re Probably Saying Wrong

English is full of eggcorns: mistaken words or phrases that make almost as much sense as the correct versions. The term eggcorn was coined by linguist Geoff Pullum in 2003 as a nod to people’s habit of mistaking the word acorn for eggcorn. You could feasibly argue that acorns evoke eggs and corn kernels.

Feasible arguments are a big element of eggcorns: There’s no overlord deciding which language errors are logical enough to be official eggcorns and which ones are just plain mistakes. If you can kinda see how it happened, feel free to call it an eggcorn.

In the latest episode of The List Show, Mental Floss editor-in-chief Erin McCarthy dives deep into all our favorite phrasal gaffes, from death nails and tenderhooks to bold-faced lies and beyond. Who knows? You might even decide that the “right” versions are kind of overrated.

1. Coleslaw vs. Cold Slaw
2. Bald-Faced Lie vs. Bold-Faced Lie
3. Hunger Pangs vs. Hunger Pains
4. On Tenterhooks vs. On Tenderhooks
5. Death Knell vs. Death Nail
6. Other Phrases Featured in the Video

Coleslaw vs. Cold Slaw

Coleslaw derives from the Dutch word koolsla, a truncated version of kool-salade—“cabbage salad” in English. Since coleslaw, like most salads, is traditionally served cold, calling it “cold slaw” seems a little redundant. But it’s not inaccurate, nor is it a new mistake. Cold slaw was already in print by the late 18th century. Not to mention that it might occasionally help to clarify “cold”: Hot slaw is also a thing.

Bald-Faced Lie vs. Bold-Faced Lie

The bald-faced in bald-faced lie is a variant of barefaced, which was first coined by Shakespeare in 1590 to describe a young man without a beard in Midsummer Night’s Dream. In other words, the lie is as plain to see as a clean-shaven, maskless face. But bold-faced has existed since around the same time as Shakespeare used it in Henry VI, Part 1. And if you’re telling an obvious lie, chances are good that you’re doing it with a pretty bold face. It’s also possible that people these days assume the bold face in question is a typeface: A lie printed in bold would be especially apparent. So while bald-faced is considered “correct,” it’s hard to say that bold-faced isn’t just as apt.

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Hunger Pangs vs. Hunger Pains

And hunger pains is an apt description for the cramps you get when you’re ravenous. Technically, they’re called “hunger pangs.” But the word pang, per the Oxford English Dictionary, describes “a sudden sharp spasm of pain which grips the body or part of it.” So using hunger pains shouldn’t get you into too much trouble with the word police.

On Tenterhooks vs. On Tenderhooks

But saying “tenderhooks” might. What you mean is tenterhooks. In the late medieval period and beyond, you’d stretch your freshly milled cloth over a wooden frame called a “tenter” so it wouldn’t shrink as it dried. Tenterhooks were the hooks or bent nails that held the cloth in place. A piece of cloth on tenterhooks is in a state of tension, which explains why we say we’re “on tenterhooks” when we’re experiencing tense anticipation or suspense. Since people these days are generally more familiar with the word tender than tenter, tenterhooks sometimes gets mistaken for tenderhooks, which isn’t a word at all. If it were, though, it might describe hooks made to hold tender cuts of meat—and you’d probably feel pretty tense if you were stuck on one of those.

Death Knell vs. Death Nail

Tenterhooks is a fossil word—a word only preserved in an idiom or some other very specific instance. If not for being on tenterhooks, we might never utter the word tenterhooks again.

Another fossil word is the knell of death knell. Originally, a knell could be the sound of any bell, but the word often referred to the solemn bell ringing after a death or funeral. A death knell specifically marked a person’s death, and the phrase eventually caught on to describe a figurative marker of any end. A business can have a death knell, a relationship can have a death knell, and so on.

But people sometimes say “death nail” instead. We can probably chalk this up to knell’s fossil status: These days, the general public doesn’t know what a knell is, so they unwittingly swap it out for something they do know. A nail is a natural fit for two reasons. One, nail sounds a lot like knell. And two, it features in the final nail in the coffin—another death-related expression about the end of something.

Other Phrases Featured in the Video

• For All Intents and Purposes vs. For All Intensive Purposes
• Chalk It Up vs. Chock It Up
• Happy as a Clam vs. Happy as a Clown
• Deep-Seated vs. Deep-Seeded
• Hurtle Along vs. Hurdle Along
• Last-Ditch Effort vs. Last-Stitch Effort
• Bad Rap vs. Bad Rep
• Coming Down the Pike vs. Coming Down the Pipe
• Hair’s Breadth vs. Hare’s Breath
• Make Ends Meet vs. Make Ends Meat

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