I spotted this for the first time only recently.
There seems to be particular confusion over phrases such as ‘never ceases to amaze me’ or ‘seize the moment’. ‘Cease the moment’ is wrong, and here is why:
Cease
- To bring or come to an end
Seize
- To take hold of forcibly, suddenly or quickly; to grab
- To take by force or capture
- To take possession (of something) by warrant or legal right
- To take immediate advantage of (usually an opportunity)
- To take (an opportunity) in an eager and decisive manner
- To affect or fill the mind (of someone) suddenly
- To understand (something) clearly or quickly
- To become jammed, usually through overheating (mechanical parts). Often used as seize(d) up
- To stop being able to work or move normally (usage is often as seize up)
Hannah McCall 
Another misspelling I’ve found is leach/leech. For example, “He’s like a leach, using her like that.” It should be “leech”.
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I have yet to spot that one myself, thanks! I think it is sort of understandable (in some contexts) because leach means to remove something from a substance (by liquid passing through it) or to lose soluble substances (by liquid passing through). Something is being removed or lost. I can see why they might get mixed up.
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Here’s a weird one I ran into (again) today:
“For all intensive purposes.” Yup, you guessed it. That should be “For all intents and purposes.”
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Apparently it is a common eggcorn (isn’t eggcorn a brilliant term? Adding that to my list of post ideas). I can understand how it happens if you mishear a phrase and never really think about its literal meaning.
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I love eggcorn. What a great term. 🙂
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Thanks Hannah! I’m always tripped up when it comes to “by accident” or “on accident!” Which is it?!? 😀
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By accident. I have actually never heard anyone say ‘on accident’ although I gather it is becoming common in the United States. Grammar Girl has an interesting article on the subject here.
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Fascinating!
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