Question 1

Rebracketing is the process of breaking a word or phrase into a different set of parts than originally intended​. In historical linguistics it often involves misplacing a word boundary (juncture) so that letters or sounds shift from one word to another. For example, English speakers reanalyzed Hamburger (from Hamburg + -er, referring to Hamburg, Germany) as ham + burger, which led to burger becoming a productive suffix for new words like cheeseburger​. 

What rebracketing do we do in English when it comes to this gentleman’s favorite and most famous shot? 

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Answer: 

Helicopter shot. Helicopter comes from helico (spiral) and pter (wing; same morpheme you will find in pterodactyl). But in English we have re-bracketed it as heli + copter and use the word copter as well. 

Question 2

Folk etymology is a change in a word or phrase over time caused by people replacing an unfamiliar or foreign-sounding part with a more familiar one​. Essentially, speakers invent an explanation for a strange word by likening it to known words or morphemes, and this “popular” reinterpretation eventually alters the word’s form.

Here are some facts about a creature whose name comes from Spanish, but English speakers have taken some creative liberties over the centuries to change its etymology: 

• Has been around since the time of dinosaurs!

• Can live almost a month without food

• Some females can mate once and stay pregnant for life!

• Can live for up to one week without its head!

Identify this creature and try to figure out its true etymological origins. 

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Answer: 

Cockroach - borrowed from Spanish cucaracha, it was assimilated by English speakers to the familiar words cock (rooster) + roach (a type of insect)​. There is no etymological link to roosters or roaches, but the reanalysis made the word more English-sounding.

Question 3

An eggcorn is an idiosyncratic substitution of a word or phrase for another word or phrase that sounds similar in the speaker’s dialect, in a way that still makes sense (at least to the speaker)​. It’s essentially a misheard or misanalyzed phrase that is used in a plausible but non-standard way.

If you were to walk around the city of Paris, you might find cafes advertising the following term “prix fixe”. What does it mean? How have we eggcorn-ed it into English?

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Answer: 

The French term prix fixe (pronounced “pree-fiks”) means a fixed-price meal. It was misheard and rewritten as “pre-fixed,” a phrase that seems logical in context (a set meal that is pre-fixed) even though it’s not the correct term.

Question 4

Back-formation is the creation of a new word by removing a real or supposed affix from an existing word​. Typically, a longer word (often a noun) is misinterpreted as having a suffix or prefix, and speakers then drop that affix to form a shorter, new word. For example, people assumed editor must come from a verb “to edit,” so they formed the verb edit from editor (even though historically editor came first)​. 

What important event in Christ’s “life” gives us a classic example of back-formation? And no - this is not an “egg”corn. 

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Answer: 

Resurrect – formed from resurrection by removing the -ion suffix​. The noun resurrection (from Latin) existed for centuries; English speakers eventually trimmed it to get the verb resurrect to describe the action.