They sound right. They aren't.

Why the swap holds "Sleight" (dexterity, cunning) survives only in this phrase. "Slight" is common — and a "slight" (small) hand movement fits magic.

Why the swap holds SLIM PICKINGS = a small or poor selection (from gleaning, picking up the leftovers). SLIM PICKENS was a country actor; the homophonic switch is internet-era.

Why the swap holds "Peek" (a quick glance) and "peak" (a summit) are homophones. The mountain-peak spelling is more familiar in print — so it bleeds into the wrong slot.

Why the swap holds Correct form. Listed because "spin a yard" sometimes appears in transcripts — "yarn" (story) reparsed as "yard" (unit of length), blurring the metaphor.

Why the swap holds "Spitting image" is the modern form. Some scholars trace it to "spit and image" (an exact likeness, as if spat and fashioned) — the eggcorn here is the older form returning.

Why the swap holds The original "spit and image" (or "splitting image") became "spitting image" through rebracketing — now the dominant form in every dictionary.

Why the swap holds "Spur" (riding spur, hence urgency) is specific; "spurn" (reject) is adjacent but doesn't fit. The sound swap preserves the feel of impulsive action.

Why the swap holds "Spur" is the riding metaphor — a sudden goad. "Spurt" reparses it as a brief burst, which also fits the feeling of doing something abruptly.

Why the swap holds "Quash" (legally suppress) is formal and rare. "Squash" (crush flat) is vivid and almost identical in shape. Many dictionaries now list "squash" as acceptable in this sense.

Why the swap holds "Statute" is rare outside legal contexts. "Statue" is everyday. The brain substitutes the common word — and the phrase still kind of makes sense.

Why the swap holds "Set foot" (place foot, formal) is older; "step foot" is a reanalysis since you step with your feet. Disputed — step foot appears in respected publications now.

Why the swap holds "Set foot in" = to enter (set as in "place"). "Step foot in" is redundant (step already implies a foot). Disputed: now common enough that some accept it.

Why the swap holds "Strait" = tight or narrow (also "dire straits"). "Straight" reparses it as linear — a sensible mental image for a restraining garment, but wrong etymology.

Why the swap holds "Strait" (tight, narrow) referred to tightly laced bodices. "Straight" (not crooked) fits the moral metaphor just as well — both forms are now accepted.

Why the swap holds "Supposably" is technically a word (meaning "capable of being supposed") but is almost always used in place of "supposedly." The ending follows the pattern of "probably" and "presumably."

Why the swap holds Correct form. Listed because "sweep under the rug" sometimes merges with "brush under the carpet" — a mixing of the two parallel idioms.

Why the swap holds "Tack" is a nautical term — the direction of a sailing ship. "Tact" reparses it as diplomacy ("tactful"), which fits "different approach" in tone.

Why the swap holds "Tack" is a sailing term — changing direction into the wind. "Tact" (social delicacy) is familiar but means something else; the sound swap is tempting.

Why the swap holds Correct when complete; listed because casual truncation to "take with a pinch" loses the key noun. The phrase requires "salt" to carry the skeptical metaphor.

Why the swap holds Phonetic reanalysis — "granted" and "granite" share the initial sound. And being taken for a rock (unremarkable, hard) almost fits the idiom.

Why the swap holds "Tamp" (press down firmly) is a one-syllable verb that sounds incomplete; "tamper" (meddle) fills out the rhythm but means something different.

Why the swap holds "Telltale" is one word, a 15th-century compound. "Tail" fits the image of a sign trailing behind evidence — a tell that wags its tail, so to speak.

Why the swap holds "Tale" (story) reparsed as "tail" (an animal's tail). The reparse imagines a tail that betrays — plausible enough that "tell-tail" appears even in published text.

Why the swap holds "Tenterhooks" were hooks on a tenter frame for stretching cloth — obsolete to modern readers. "Tender hooks" reparses them as hooks that hurt, which is what being on them feels like.

Why the swap holds Not an eggcorn. Listed to flag the rare transfer "thanks for caring" appearing when the speaker means "sharing." A ear-compression slip in fast speech.

Why the swap holds From Caesar crossing the Rubicon — the gambling die has been thrown. "Caste" (social class) shifts the fatalism from chance to birth.

Why the swap holds Homophone spelling — the idiom's origin is debated (fabric, machine-gun belts, cement trucks). "Hole" sounds identical to "whole" and is more concrete.

Why the swap holds SPITTING IMAGE — possibly from "the spit and image of" (an exact double). SPLITTING IMAGE imagines a torn portrait — vivid, wrong.

Why the swap holds "Throes" means violent pangs or convulsions. "Throws" sounds identical and evokes exuberant motion — arguably fitting, though the original imagined pain not pleasure.

Why the swap holds "Throes" are spasms or agonies (as in death throes). "Throws" reparses it as motions of casting or tossing — a plausible image of turmoil, wrong noun.

Why the swap holds The original metaphor is a tide carrying you until the next one. Speakers hear "tied" and imagine being secured. Both versions suggest getting through a gap.

Why the swap holds Homophones — tying a knot (literal) symbolises marriage. "Not" turns it into nonsensical denial; visible only in writing.

Why the swap holds "To a T" (exactly, possibly from a draughtsman's T-square) reparsed as "to a tea" — the drink. The reparse is cozy-sounding but arbitrary.

Why the swap holds From Hamlet: "to the manner born" — accustomed to the custom. "Manor" (stately home) fits the sound and the aristocratic connotation, popularised by the 1979 BBC sitcom.

Why the swap holds "Tow" (pale flax fibres) describes blond children's hair; "toe-headed" has no clear image. The original is archaic enough that the eggcorn goes unchallenged.

Why the swap holds "Tow" is pale flax fibre (tow-coloured hair = very blond). "Toe-headed" reparses it as having a head like a toe — a strange image; the tow-fibre sense is nearly extinct.

Why the swap holds Pressing tongue against inside of cheek was a gesture signalling irony. "And" just coordinates the body parts and loses the hidden-joke meaning.

Why the swap holds "Flak" (from German Flugabwehrkanone, anti-aircraft fire) is original. "Flack" (press agent) is a homophone; criticism does feel like defensive fire.

Why the swap holds Farmers hoe rows, not roads. But "road" evokes a difficult journey so well that the wrong form overtook the right in casual US speech.

Why the swap holds "Row" is the agricultural row of a field. "Road" reparses it as a long hard journey, which also fits "tough" — but you can't hoe a road.

Why the swap holds Athletes place a toe at the starting line. "Tow" (to drag) makes the phrase read as dutiful compliance — a meaning that fits so well most speakers don't notice.

Why the swap holds "Toe the line" = put your toes exactly on the line, the military / sport image of strict compliance. "Tow" imagines a rope and a boat — visual but wrong.

Why the swap holds Same "toe"/"tow" mis-parse as regular "toe the line" — but reinforced here by the image of literally towing cargo behind a party.

Why the swap holds "Charted" (mapped) and "chartered" (licensed) differ by two letters and one idea. Adding the extra syllable sounds more formal, so writers often over-correct.

Why the swap holds Sailors reportedly noted illness "under the weather bow" — hit hardest by bad conditions. "Whether" (conditional) has no connection to illness; visible only in writing.

Why the swap holds "Weather" (atmospheric conditions) reparsed as "whether" (if/not). Nonsensical, but a frequent homophone slip in written English.

Why the swap holds "Faze" = to disturb. "Phase" = a stage. "Unphased" reparses the disturbance as a Star-Trek-style transition ("out of phase") — unaffected by wave-form disruption.

Why the swap holds UNFAZED comes from FAZE (to disturb). The eggcorn substitutes PHASE (a stage). Same root error as "phase me / faze me."

Why the swap holds "At 'em" (at them) compresses in speech to "'attem" → "Adam" — a proper name. The reparse imagines a call to someone named Adam to get up.

Why the swap holds "At 'em" (at them) contracts to sound like "atom." The 1965 cartoon Atom Ant turned the pun into a catchphrase, and many speakers now know only the eggcorn.