Found a new eggcorn (at least it’s new to me): “For all extensive purposes” instead of “for all intents and purposes.”
Google shows 1,290 hits for “for all extensive purposes,” as opposed to 75,300 for “for all intensive purposes,” and over a million for “for all intents and purposes.” Whew, at least standard English is still ahead by a healthy margin.
From a community college newspaper:
Mr. Paul Peterson for obvious reasons. Adviser to Logos and for all extensive purposes, my boss.
From freesoftwaremagazine.com:
A Tor
*.onionURL, for all extensive purposes, cannot be traced back to the host machine.
And from the State of New York Public Service Commission:
For all extensive purposes, these proceedings have served their intended purpose for these municipalities and there are no further proceedings contemplated for them.
When the government uses it, you know it’s official.
The Eggcorn Database lists “intensive purposes” but I don’t see an entry for “extensive purposes” yet.
And what makes an utterance a “word?” One definition says a word is “a unit of language, consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representation, that functions as a principal carrier of meaning.” Another, “a unit of language that native speakers can identify.” The strict language police would say lot’s of utterances aren’t words, but if the meaning is understood, it is. “If it’s not in the dictionary, it’s not a word!” How many times did I hear that growing up?
Pah! Not directly on topic, but I thought I’d bring it up.
I pointed that eggcorn out to my wife this afternoon, when I saw her brother use that phrase on his blog (surely the same place you saw it), and encouraged her to have a word with him over supper this evening.
Free factoid for you: According to WikiAnswer, the original phrase was “to all intents and purposes,” which dates back to the 16th century.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_the_saying_‘all_intents_and_purposes’_or_’all_intense_purposes’
As for where I first saw “all extensive purposes” — my lips are sealed!
I like it that these things usually make sense, but not the sense intended. “Extensive purpose” - presumably that would be a wide-ranging, all-encompassing intention. A missionary who wants to convert the entire word to his religion would have quite an “extensive purpose”.
As for “for all extensive purposes, a grill is the same as a toaster-oven” (to make up a random example), what would it really mean? Presumably that if someone has some kind of grand plan, then the two things are the same for them only.