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You might be interested in the concept of "eggcorns," which usually spawn from orphaned idioms that we can no longer connect to. For example the word "dander" i
by xsmasher 11y ago
You might be interested in the concept of "eggcorns," which usually spawn from orphaned idioms that we can no longer connect to. For example the word "dander" is no longer used outside the idiom "get one's dander up."
http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/ http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/
I was not able to find the right term for "orphaned" words like dander. Does anyone know what the term is?
- jkaunisv1 11y agoI'm not sure why you think dander is an "orphaned" word. It has a known definition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dander https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dander and I would presume "get one's dander up" originally referred to the material an animal would shed when it gets angry and starts eg. flapping its wings.
- michaelcampbell 11y ago> I'm not sure why you think dander is an "orphaned" word. Indeed; anyone with an allergy is well familiar with pet dander; both the word and the "stuff".
- mindcrime 11y agoYeah, that's the one main use of "dander" that I can think of. You definitely hear people talk about "cat dander" and "dog dander" and what-not if they are allergic.
- xsmasher 11y agoOkay, bad example. Orphaned word like "kith" in "kith and kin?"