Easter Eggcorns from The Math Myth

In her article for Slate, Evelyn Lamb points out that parts of Andrew Hacker’s book The Math Myth are not exactly Easter eggs—although they function as jokes for numerate people, their humor seems unintended.

Instead, they might be dubbed “Easter eggcorns.” The word “eggcorn” arose from “acorn” and now means:

A series of words that result from the misunderstanding of a word or phrase as some other word or phrase having a plausible explanation, as free reign for free rein, or to the manor born for to the manner born (from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet). American Heritage Dictionary

Thus an “Easter eggcorn” combines the hidden surprise of an Easter egg with the misunderstanding and plausible explanation of an eggcorn.