The Eggcorn Database: A Far-Gone Conclusion

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foregone » far gone
Chiefly in: far-gone conclusion
Classification: English

Spotted in the wild:

  • Therefore, as far as Fox News is concerned, the guilt of these first to be court-martialed is a far-gone conclusion, in order for their ‘fair and balanced’ agenda to be successful. (ThatColoredFellasWeblog, May 19, 2004)
  • Whenever someone starts comparing the President to Hitler, it is a far-gone conclusion that reason has flown out the window. (Romantic Times forum, January 27, 2005)
  • As a resident, and knowing Illinois politics as I do, it has been a far gone conclusion that this is a very safe Kerry Blue State. (Watchblog, comment, June 10, 2004)
  • I am sure now, that if this were on the general ballot in November, the vote would’ve been much closer, and not a far-gone conclusion. (Watchblog, August 04, 2004)
  • What is only inferred in the article is that the study was based upon the assumption that global warming is a far-gone conclusion. (Slings and Arrows, April 08, 2003)

    • Analyzed or reported by:

    * Ken Lakritz (on this site)

    from the Eggcorn Database

    Eggcorns, the contributers say, “tell us something about how ordinary speakers and writers make sense of the language they use.” They “arise when a writer knows an expression well enough to employ it in an appropriate context, but is mistaken about the term’s or its constituents’ meanings, origins or the underlying metaphors.” The Database now includes just under 600 examples.

    Posted in: Language, Online Places, Writing

    See Jane

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    • In the 101 studied films, there are three male characters for every one female character.
    • Fewer than one out of three (28 percent) of the speaking characters (both real and animated) are female.
    • Fewer than one in five (17 percent) of the characters in crowd scenes are female.
    • More than four out of five (83 percent) of the films’ narrators are male.

    from “Where the Girls Aren’t.”

    See Jane

    Here’s one of those things that are so obvious that we have all forgotten about it in our rush to be post-feminist. Movies are fully dominated by men, in several different senses, even if women are increasingly powerful behind the scenes.

    Gina Davis co-founded See Jane last year. “By making it common for our youngest children to see everywhere a balance of active and complex male and female characters,” Davis writes, “girls and boys will grow up to empathize with and care more about each others’ stories.”

    I wonder if this sort of advocacy would have been possible if there were no women in power to listen. Or, perhaps, there will no change of this sort until there is a critical mass of women and men sympathetic to these sorts of issues. Either way, the research SeeJane sponsors is worth a look.

    Posted in: Economics, Online Places, Writing

    Safe2pee.org

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    Welcome to safe2pee.org. We’re taking web innovations and applying them to a very real problem facing many in our society — harassment, violence and discrimination in public restrooms.

    The goal of the project is to create a resource where people who do not feel comfortable with traditional public restrooms can find safe alternatives, and to support advocacy and research to further the cause of gender free, inclusive bathrooms. The service aims to be accessible from a variety of mediums (computer, cell phone browser, maybe even a call-in number?).

    Safe2.Pee.org

    This probably will seem a stretch for Friday, when I usually post something having to do with writing or language, but I like this mash-up so much to make it a special exception. I not at all sure how to write about this, it’s both strange and wonderfully progressive simultaneously. It’s good writing, too; they get the tone just right, which is pretty rare in many leftist circles.

    I guess it is only strange if you have never had this problem, or never thought of it. Come to think of it, I did have this problem back in the 70s and early 80s when I had long hair. “This project was put together by and is often maintained by a genderqueer hackers collective,” the website says, “with a sense of humor and some anarchist tendencies.” Exactly.

    I found the site by reading Annalee Newitz’s article, “Peeing By Design,” on AlterNet. Her blog is Techsploitation. Lots of good writing over there too.

    Posted in: Autobiographical, Online Places, Writing