Monday, August 8, 2011

Earhorn

ear-horn (ərhôrn)

noun
1. A passive funnel-like amplification cone designed to gather sound energy and direct it into the ear canal.
My favorite use of an earhorn in English literature is when Reepicheep tries to introduce Eustace Scrub to an elderly dwarf using an earhorn. Of course, the dwarf mishears Eustace's first name and asks, with some indignation and a little bit of snark, "Useless? If he's useless, why did you bring him to me?"

Synonyms: bone anchored hearing aid, cochlear implant, ear horn,* ear trumpet, hearing aid.

2. An eggcorn for eggcorn.
An earhorn is idiosyncratic substitution of a word or phrase that also bears a phonetic likeness.

Synonyms: eggcorn.

* Sometimes, I just like to make words into compound words.

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