Read Authorisms: Words Wrought by Writers for Free Online Page B

for the substitution of a word or phrase for a word or words that sound similar or identical in the speaker’s dialect but that still make sense—e.g., old timer’s disease for Alzheimer’s disease , mute point for moot point, ex-patriot for expatriate, and the author’s favorite doggy-doggy world for dog-eat-dog world . Eggcorn was coined by linguist and coauthor of The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language Geoffrey Pullum in 2003 as the soundalike substitution of acorn .
    EGGHEAD. A 1918 letter from American author and poet Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) introduced this derogatory term for an intellectual. Sandburg indicated that Chicago newspapermen used the term to refer to highbrow editorial writers out of touch with the common man. In the 1950s, the word surged in popularity when Democrat Adlai Stevenson was branded with the term in his unsuccessful presidential campaigns.

     
    EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES. A metaphor for human folly from the name of a fairy tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) about two weavers who promise their emperor a new suit of clothes that is invisible to those who are unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent. Since no one wanted to admit he could not see the clothes and admit to being a fool, the clothes were praised. But when the emperor parades before a child in his new clothes, the child cries out, “But he isn’t wearing anything at all!”
    EPHEMERALIZATION. The 1960 creation of R. Buckminster Fuller for doing more with less, specifically referring to machinery becoming smaller and lighter over time.
    EREWHON. Title of a Samuel Butler (1835–1902) novel published anonymously in 1872. The title is also the name of a country, supposedly discovered by the protagonist. In the novel, it is not revealed in which part of the world Erewhon is, but it is clear that it is a fictional country. Butler meant the title to be read as the word nowhere backward even though the letters h and w are transposed; therefore Erewhon is an anagram of nowhere . In the preface to the first edition of his book, Butler specified: “The author wishes it to be understood that Erewhon is pronounced as a word of three syllables, all short—thus, E-re-whon.” Nevertheless, the word is occasionally pronounced with two syllables as “air – one.”
    ERGOTIZE. To quibble, wrangle. This rare word was coined from the Latin word ergo by Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894). 4
    ESCAPEE. Term that makes its debut in 1875 in Walt Whitman ’s (1819–1892) in his memoirs of the war in which he writes of “Southern Escapees.”
    ESCAPIST. In the sense of seeking distraction from reality, the 1933 creation of British essayist and novelist C. S. Lewis (1898–1963).
    ESOTERICA. Term for esoteric objects or products; esoteric details. American poet of light verse Ogden Nash (1902–1971) introduced the word in a poem published in 1929 with the line: “The postal authorities of the United States of America Frown on Curiosa, Erotica and Esoterica.”
    ET TU, BRUTE. The last words of Julius Caesar as imagined by William Shakespeare . Literally, “And you, Brutus?” Used in a modern context as a sarcastic remark after a minor act of betrayal. It comes from the play Julius Caesar and alludes to the moment in 44 BC when Julius Caesar was murdered by a group of senators led by Marcus Brutus, who had previously been Caesar’s close friend. In the play Caesar begins to fend off the attack but resigns himself to his fate when he sees that his friend has betrayed him:
 
Caesar: Doth not Brutus bootless kneel?
Casca: Speak, hands, for me! [They stab Caesar.]
Caesar: Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar! [Dies.]
Cinna: Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead! 5
    ETH. A member of an ethnic group, one who displays ethnicity, a subject for study by ethnographers and ethnologists. Coined by American author and music critic Herbert Kupferberg (1918–2001) in his