Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2021 April 8

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April 8

"Bone apple teeth" and "lack toast and tolerance"

Is there a particular linguistic term for formations like "lack toast and tolerance" for "lactose intolerance" and "bone apple teeth" for "bon appetit"? 24.43.123.70 (talk) 19:59, 8 April 2021 (UTC)

Either eggcorns or malapropisms, perhaps. Deor (talk) 20:06, 8 April 2021 (UTC)

Under the right circumstances, puns. Clarityfiend (talk) 20:09, 8 April 2021 (UTC)

They're called "bone apple tea" right now, see the subreddit of the same name. Temerarius (talk) 21:27, 8 April 2021 (UTC)

Also folk etymology may be relevant. --T*U (talk) 23:09, 8 April 2021 (UTC)

They are called mondegreens. Mathglot (talk) 07:47, 9 April 2021 (UTC)

That's the one I've heard. It reminds me of hearing "Silent Night" when I was a pre-teen, and wondering why the song described Mary as a "round young virgin". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 09:48, 9 April 2021 (UTC)

A mondegreen is specifically a misheard phrase from a song lyric. "Eggcorn" fits the OP's examples perfectly. Alansplodge (talk) 21:35, 9 April 2021 (UTC)

I thought "eggcorn" usually implied a semantic connection, such as "old timer's disease" for Alzheimers, which doesn't seem to be the case in my examples. 24.43.123.68 (talk) 17:45, 10 April 2021 (UTC)