tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post2260933795732947109..comments2024-02-19T07:51:46.118-05:00Comments on Throw Grammar from the Train: A mind-buggering mysteryJanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173219179480606941noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-47871646607834251482012-04-26T04:31:00.011-04:002012-04-26T04:31:00.011-04:00Yup! can confirm the original books used the term ...Yup! can confirm the original books used the term mindbuggering. As it was used only once I bet it was an evil typesetter who did it for a laugh. I bought a class set of books from "Windmill school books" and was planning to read the book with the class, until I got to page 22 or there abouts. I'd designed work sheets and all sorts of stuff but when I came across that word I dropped the whole project. I did try to contact D.A. on the N.G. dedicated to him but I got flamed for not reading the FAQ. I eventually tracked him down on his web site where he stated that he didn't use the D.A. N.G. as he got flamed for pretending to be D.A.!! Anyway I posted a letter on the site but never got a reply...late the next year I heard he died, so I'll never know if it was intentional.Jolly Rogerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06381057490655203612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-29336623503631745322012-03-07T21:01:08.999-05:002012-03-07T21:01:08.999-05:00Is there any relationship here with 'mind-f*ck...Is there any relationship here with 'mind-f*cking' or 'brain-f*cking'?<br /><br />Might a copy editor have read 'bugger' broadly, to mean 'f*ck' and sought a tamer alternative?John Burgesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11979918255430186425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-66019746332034969922012-02-28T11:02:59.224-05:002012-02-28T11:02:59.224-05:00Thank you for introducing me to my new favorite vo...Thank you for introducing me to my new favorite vocabulary word: "eggcorn".<br />I often silently cringe when I hear someone inadvertently revise an idiom during conversation. I never knew there was a word for this, though I probably should have.<br />I just found "The Eggcorn Database" online, and the number of entries boggled (bungled?)my mind! This could entertain me for hours!Maryct70https://www.blogger.com/profile/13947564366276540429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-60870702741389737422012-02-28T00:00:47.668-05:002012-02-28T00:00:47.668-05:00My Pan paperback edition, which was published in C...My Pan paperback edition, which was published in Canada, apparently in 1979, uses the "mind-buggering" variant.<br />Jonathan LangsnerJonathan Langsnernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-33520958124354426032012-02-27T23:48:44.672-05:002012-02-27T23:48:44.672-05:00"Wonder if the edit was made to use a more fa..."Wonder if the edit was made to use a more familiar idiom or to clean up the language?"<br /><br />In one of the books, he talks about a "Silver Rory, for the most gratuitous use of the word fuck in a serious screenplay". It may have been this that was bowdlerised for US publication. Something was, leading him to insert a whole segment about "Belgium" as a universally taboo vulgarity in a later part of the series.mehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09042500344000182850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-2180023366457551902012-02-27T22:14:12.585-05:002012-02-27T22:14:12.585-05:00Ridger, thanks for the additional datum -- I shoul...Ridger, thanks for the additional datum -- I should have thought of that. Wonder if the edit was made to use a more familiar idiom or to clean up the language? -- or maybe both. And are there other BrE-to-AmE changes? <br />And Jonathon, thanks for the clip -- hilarious.Janhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01579983806826643000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-44160958218769000782012-02-27T22:00:19.437-05:002012-02-27T22:00:19.437-05:00My copy of The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (19...My copy of <i>The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide</i> (1996) has "mind-boggling." <br /><br />My favorite, though, is "mind-bottling," complete with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWkNPrXkvRA" rel="nofollow">explanation of the idiom</a>.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04323568112711824064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-78086666726728114572012-02-27T21:37:52.279-05:002012-02-27T21:37:52.279-05:00Hmmm, I've never heard of "mind-buggering...Hmmm, I've never heard of "mind-buggering" but I've heard people use other terms to complain about ideas which have had traumatically intimate relations with their brains.Bryan Whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01607046468663026271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-34221265831367123572012-02-27T21:37:19.330-05:002012-02-27T21:37:19.330-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Mark Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02843937622990037343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-48508249347944002332012-02-27T21:37:08.798-05:002012-02-27T21:37:08.798-05:00The panelist also might have been going for "...The panelist also might have been going for "beggars belief." I take it to be more common in British English, but my American Heritage offers the example "beauty that beggars description."<br /><br />Here is The Phrase Finder's take on the idiom: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/beggars-belief.htmlMark Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02843937622990037343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-61425080267846371632012-02-27T21:22:22.943-05:002012-02-27T21:22:22.943-05:00English English and American English can be very d...English English and American English can be very different. Unlike maxqnz, I would have boggled at "mind-buggering" even though I'm Canadian and quite used (so I thought) to Englishisms.<br />Re the eggcorns: "Mind-buckling" makes a lot of sense, as in "mind-bending" but I think my favorite variant just has to be the very confusing "mind-bottling" although it could be a good euphemism for drinking.Kay L. Davieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09966266404058177742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-84070991070978898692012-02-27T21:02:40.276-05:002012-02-27T21:02:40.276-05:00The version for sale at Amazon.co.uk has "min...The version for sale at Amazon.co.uk has "mind-buggering" - I just checked. So this may be a case of "Americanizing" the text.The Ridger, FCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01538111197270563075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-42293258130121539202012-02-27T20:58:05.321-05:002012-02-27T20:58:05.321-05:00"It buggers the mind" was an undergradua..."It buggers the mind" was an undergraduate eggcorn that turned up when I was a teaching assistant at Syracuse in the 1970s.John McIntyrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03559687583130468871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-88446425435809497972012-02-27T20:45:17.927-05:002012-02-27T20:45:17.927-05:00I got my copy of the original trilogy in 1983. If ...I got my copy of the original trilogy in 1983. If that's early enough for your query, I can confirm that it is "mind-buggering" in that addition of HHGTTG. Since "bugger" in that sense is a Br/Commonwealth usage more than N.Amr, it was unremarkable here in NZ.mehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09042500344000182850noreply@blogger.com