Sliver me timbers!
Yes, sliver. Alison Purnell found this eggcorn in an episode of
the television show
Due South.
Not just the eggcorn, but a discussion about it, complete with a
rationale for it.
From the episode "Mountie on the Bounty Pt.1", originally aired 3/15/98
(transcription by Purnell):
Ray: Frannie! Can you run some prints
for me, check 'em against any known pirates?
Francesca: Pirates?! What do you mean, like "pieces of eight" and
"sliver me timbers"?
Ray: It's "shiver me timbers."
Francesca: It's "sliver."
Ray: Frannie!
Francesca: Ray! What can that mean, "shiver me timbers"? That doesn't
mean anything.
Ray: Sure it does, like, "shake your booty," something like that.
Francesca: Ray. Pirates. They slide down masts.
Wooden masts. "Sliver," y'get it? Sliver in their
timbers? [in disgust as she walks away] "Shiver."
Ray: [to himself] I never got that.
There are a few dozen webhits for "sliver me timbers", but they all
look like plays on words. This one seems to have been invented
just for the show. And with a rationale that's like the ones we
get for eggcorns in the wild.
Posted by Arnold Zwicky at November 4, 2007 02:02 PM