Coming up on Word Matters, slips of the tongue and errors of the ear.
I'm Emily Brewster,
and Word Matters is produced by Merriam-Webster in collaboration with New England Public Media.
On each episode, Merriam-Webster editors Amin Shea, Peter Sakalowski,
and I explore some aspect of the English language from the dictionary's vantage point.
Eggcorns are, for all intensive purposes, errors.
But they're errors worth digging into.
I'll grab the shovel.
When I was in sixth grade, my class was learning calligraphy.
I think it was in an art class.
And I was very pleased with my calligraphic skills.
And so was a friend of mine.
And we were comparing.
And he suggested that we have a kind of contest to see who could actually make the most beautiful.
calligraphic rendering of a particular phrase.
So I took this challenge and the phrase that we were to write down was,
excuse me while I kiss the sky.
And so I wrote down in my best, best calligraphy very,
very carefully this line from a very famous song that I did not know.
And I wrote in my best calligraphy, excuse me while I kiss this guy.