Be Vewy Vewy Quiet...

I just bagged my first eggcorn.

What are eggcorns? According to The Eggcorn Database, eggcorns are

unusual spellings of a particular kind... Typical examples include free reign (instead of free rein) or hone in on (instead of home in on), and many more or less common reshapings of words and expressions: a word or part of a word is semantically reanalyzed, and the spelling reflects the new interpretation.

They've been much discussed at Language Log and on the American Dialect Society mailing list, and people bring in examples they've spotted "in the wild". Yesterday I brought the phrase "beyond approach" to the attention of ADS, and today it's been added to the database.

A little thing, I know, but I think it rates a brief happydance.

Casey and Andy

You know you've been reading either too much Casey and Andy or too much USAn history, or both, when you see that they (Casey and Andy) have taken a time-trip to Washington in 1886 and you immediately remember that Grover Cleveland is President - and know why it's important.