Timeline for motherload – a common mistake or slang word?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
21 events
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| May 22, 2017 at 12:23 | vote | accept | mondegreen dispenser | ||
| May 22, 2017 at 12:22 | comment | added | mondegreen dispenser | "authoritative", sorry. | |
| May 22, 2017 at 12:15 | comment | added | mondegreen dispenser | From the links supplied by Laure above: "Mother load, a common misspelling, sort of makes sense, but it’s not the conventional term, and many readers will view it as incorrect." "In most cases, though, ignorance rules. 'Mother-lode' has become 'motherload' in many cases because people simply don’t know the difference." That actually answered it for me, though it is not really "authorative". I'll try to avoid off-topic tendencies in the future though. | |
| May 22, 2017 at 12:05 | comment | added | user66974 | @Hyperventilatin - yes , that would be sort of "opinion based" issue, which is off-topic here. | |
| May 22, 2017 at 11:58 | comment | added | mondegreen dispenser | @Josh Sure – since I had first looked up "motherload", it was clear to me that "mother lode" is the actual standard and "motherload" either a misspelling or pun on that word. My question was rather about whether the ignorance or the deliberate pun prevails in usage - which is, after all, admittedly a bit speculative. | |
| May 22, 2017 at 11:56 | comment | added | Hot Licks | Note that if "yielded" was misspelled one would not anticipate the correct spelling of other words. | |
| May 22, 2017 at 11:45 | comment | added | user66974 | @HyperventilatingValedictorian - mother load in a non standard spelling or a spelling mistake according to: beedictionary.com/common-errors/motherload_vs_mother_lode. The fact that it can be found also in academic texts doesn't change the fact that the standard and more common spelling is motherlode. Usage might make it a regular spelling with time. | |
| May 22, 2017 at 11:45 | comment | added | mondegreen dispenser | Though "professional publications" in the context of mines would be the better term, the "scientific publications" were about other things. | |
| May 22, 2017 at 11:40 | history | edited | mondegreen dispenser | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| May 22, 2017 at 11:38 | comment | added | mondegreen dispenser | The (sic!) was added by myself, I'll make that clear in my post. Actually, I've seen "motherload" in scientific publications, even in the context of mines. Google Books shows some results. | |
| May 22, 2017 at 11:32 | comment | added | Hot Licks | Note the presence of "(sic!)" and the misspelling of "yielded" in the Prince article, suggesting that the use of "motherload" there may have been some sort of a pun or such. | |
| May 22, 2017 at 11:29 | comment | added | Hot Licks | The term "mother lode" (with or without the space) refers to a major vein of the desired mineral found in, eg, a gold mine. Popularized in the "gold rush" periods in California and Alaska. I don't recall ever seeing "mother load" used in this sense in a reliable publication, though I certainly might have overlooked it at times. I have seen "mother load" used as a pun for, eg, the angst that a mother places on an adult offspring. I would consider "mother load" to be incorrect, when used to refer to the real or metaphorical mineral vein. | |
| May 22, 2017 at 10:21 | answer | added | user66974 | timeline score: 1 | |
| May 22, 2017 at 10:19 | history | edited | mondegreen dispenser | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| May 22, 2017 at 10:14 | history | edited | mondegreen dispenser | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| May 22, 2017 at 10:08 | comment | added | mondegreen dispenser | I've added a link to Google Books in my question for the Prince quotation. | |
| May 22, 2017 at 10:04 | history | edited | mondegreen dispenser | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| May 22, 2017 at 10:03 | comment | added | None | I wonder if you'll get a better answer than the one on grammarist. But a "mother lode" vs motherload search will give you lots of links. Including this one for a smile. | |
| May 22, 2017 at 10:00 | comment | added | Josh Friedlander | A quick google suggests that mother lode is correct. Since your other quote isn't sourced (other than "in a book"), and contains another error(!), I wouldn't give it too much credibility. | |
| May 22, 2017 at 9:53 | history | edited | mondegreen dispenser | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| May 22, 2017 at 9:39 | history | asked | mondegreen dispenser | CC BY-SA 3.0 |