eggcorn of the day #3
Observed:
“You are in touch with your inner-self, feelings, and deep-seeded emotions, and love to express them with music and art.”
In this sentence, “deep-seeded emotions” is an eggcorn of “deep-seated emotions.”
The Eggcorn Database documents this substitution, citing Mark Liberman of the Language Log:
And in terms of the current ordinary-language meaning of the words involved, “deep-seeded ignorance” makes sense, while “deep-seated ignorance” doesn’t. Ignorance can be planted deep and thus have deep metaphorical roots, but deep-seated ignorance would have to be ignorance cut with a lot of room in the crotch, or maybe ignorance sitting in a badly-designed armchair.
The Eggcorn Database further notes, “for most speakers, the verb seed will be common in the sense relating to sports competitions, leading to top-seeded.”
However, if one traces the origin of the term “deep-seated,” we find that it does indeed make sense. The OED offers this as one definition for the noun “seat”:
14. a. The thing (esp. the organ or part of the body) in which a particular power, faculty, function or quality ‘resides’; the locality of a disease, sensation, or the like.
b. Similarly, of the soul or its parts.
This definition of “seat” leads us to understand that “deep-seated” emotions would be those harbored in the innermost parts of one’s being, inside one’s core self.
