Crestfallen vs. Chestfallen

[3113]

So...in my minimalist search, all the dictionaries have said that "disappointment" is "crestfallen." But my Lit editor (and I for that matter) feel that most people recognize and use "chestfallen" for that.

Yet computer and online dictionaries don't recognized "chestfallen" as existing.

Is "chestfallen" a mistake that folk make when they mean "crestfallen"? How long has it been around and is it legit? Even when I use google, I don't find a dictionary definition for "chestfallen"--just sentences where "chestfallen" has been used. Yet I'm pretty darn sure that just about everyone here and most readers wouldn't use "crestfallen." They'd naturally read it as "chestfallen."

What's the deal?

 

[Weird Harold]

So...in my minimalist search, all the dictionaries have said that "disappointment" is "crestfallen." But my Lit editor (and I for that matter) feel that most people recognize and use "chestfallen" for that.

Yet computer and online dictionaries don't recognized "chestfallen" as existing.

Is "chestfallen" a mistake that folk make when they mean "crestfallen"? How long has it been around and is it legit? Even when I use google, I don't find a dictionary definition for "chestfallen"--just sentences where "chestfallen" has been used. Yet I'm pretty darn sure that just about everyone here and most readers wouldn't use "crestfallen." They'd naturally read it as "chestfallen."

What's the deal?

Until your post, I had NEVER seen "chestfallen" in nearly fifty years of reading almost anything I can get access to.

As far as I know the word is crestfallen and always has been.

 

[Equinoxe]

I don't recall any instance in which I have ever heard anyone say "chestfallen" (which, for the record, the Firefox spell check also does not recognise). It would, I presume, be an eggcorn (such as it were), though I can't particularly speak to its legitimacy or origin.

Though, to be fair, people don't often use the word crestfallen either, but having said that, I have used the term before as well as encountered it in both speech and writing.

Chestfallen, to me, sounds like a word from those lists one might see in Reader's Digest where an existing word is changed slightly and given an amusing definition.

 

[tolyk]

I've never before seen chestfallen either.. And it looks very odd to me.

 

[R. Richard]

Until your post, I had NEVER seen "chestfallen" in nearly fifty years of reading almost anything I can get access to.

Me too, neither.

 

[rgraham666]

Never heard of chestfallen, 3. Always used crestfallen for disappointed.

 

[Guest]

I've never seen it.

In fact, I thought the post title was a play on words about someone who was sad about not being very busty.

 

[Equinoxe]

I've never seen it.

In fact, I thought the post title was a play on words about someone who was sad about not being very busty.

I thought it was going to be something like that, too. I was rather expecting an article or something of the sort on cultural expectations and preferences.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Is "chestfallen" a mistake that folk make when they mean "crestfallen"?
RF: Apparently

How long has it been around and is it legit?
RF: It's not.

Even when I use google, I don't find a dictionary definition for "chestfallen"--just sentences where "chestfallen" has been used. Yet I'm pretty darn sure that just about everyone here and most readers wouldn't use "crestfallen." They'd naturally read it as "chestfallen."
RF: You're wrong

What's the deal?
RF: See previous answer

Sorry about that 3113. The only use I can think of for chestfallen is to describe a woman with droppy boobs.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[MagicaPractica]

So...in my minimalist search, all the dictionaries have said that "disappointment" is "crestfallen." But my Lit editor (and I for that matter) feel that most people recognize and use "chestfallen" for that.

Yet computer and online dictionaries don't recognized "chestfallen" as existing.

Is "chestfallen" a mistake that folk make when they mean "crestfallen"? How long has it been around and is it legit? Even when I use google, I don't find a dictionary definition for "chestfallen"--just sentences where "chestfallen" has been used. Yet I'm pretty darn sure that just about everyone here and most readers wouldn't use "crestfallen." They'd naturally read it as "chestfallen."

What's the deal?

Sorry, but as a librarian and an extremely avid reader, I have never seen the term "chestfallen." I thought you were joking at first. If I saw it in writing, I would assume it was a typo.

 

[3113]

uh-oh. Well, there go my votes

Honestly. My editor, who's pretty darn good, went for chestfallen and that's what I've heard...and I'm not crazy. People use it.

I have never used "crestfallen" and I have used "chestfallen."

Well. Here's hoping I don't get too much feedback on it...and I'll get around to re-editing and changing it later.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

uh-oh. Well, there go my votes

Honestly. My editor, who's pretty darn good, went for chestfallen and that's what I've heard...and I'm not crazy. People use it.

I have never used "crestfallen" and I have used "chestfallen."

Well. Here's hoping I don't get too much feedback on it...and I'll get around to re-editing and changing it later.

I've never ever heard of "chestfallen" either, but I kind of like the idea.

I guess in "crestfallen", the idea is of a crest on a heolmet knocked over as if in defeat. In "chestfallen" the person would be walking around like they'd been punched in the chest? Or do you think is has to do with the heart?

 

[3113]

In "chestfallen" the person would be walking around like they'd been punched in the chest? Or do you think is has to do with the heart?

Yes! That's it precisely (at least that's the way I've always seen it).

Maybe folk will think I made up the word and I'm a poetic genius?

 

[SweetPrettyAss]

Crestfallen is a fairly ordinary word but I have never heard of chestfallen. Maybe it would describe a woman who was very bosomy in her youth but now, in her sixties, has boobies that are hanging around her waist.

 

[MichelleLovesTo]

Yep, I've been a reader all my life, minus 5 years , and I've never seen chestfallen.

 

[3113]

Yep, I've been a reader all my life, minus 5 years , and I've never seen chestfallen.

Shrug. I've been a reader all my life as well. And I'm pretty sure I've seen it. But maybe I'm either deluding myself...or the dyslexia kicked in and I mistook that "r" for an "h" all these years.

Here's some evidence that it exists outside of me.

"i must admit, my ego is a little chestfallen at the lack of replies..."

"George saw the "I love Reagan" Tatoo and he was chestfallen. ......'

Two example of use on the internet. I'm not the only one.

 

[Liar]

Chestfallen sounds like an anatomic mishap.

 

[Guest]

Chestfallen sounds like an anatomic mishap.

something like a botched breast souffle.

eta:
some times, i make up words...or i think im making up words but i really havent done anything original. i like this chestfallen word.

 

[TheEarl]

Crestfallen is a literal word, describing the dropping of the head in sadness/disappointment. Crest fallen. 'Fraid I'm gonna have to add my vote to the 'never heard of chestfallen' crowd.

The Earl

 

[TheeGoatPig]

First time I've heard it (that I know of) as well. But I have to admit, I'm not as well read as some of the posters above me

 

[FallingToFly]

*blink*
*blink*

>.<

That word doesn't exist. NO dictionary on earth has it, more than ninety percent of the answers here are in the WTF category... the word does not exist.

No amount of justification changes that. My brain hurts now, and I'm goign to go crawl into a bottomless mug of coffee. with pie.

 

[angelicminx]

So...in my minimalist search, all the dictionaries have said that "disappointment" is "crestfallen." But my Lit editor (and I for that matter) feel that most people recognize and use "chestfallen" for that.

Yet computer and online dictionaries don't recognized "chestfallen" as existing.

Is "chestfallen" a mistake that folk make when they mean "crestfallen"? How long has it been around and is it legit? Even when I use google, I don't find a dictionary definition for "chestfallen"--just sentences where "chestfallen" has been used. Yet I'm pretty darn sure that just about everyone here and most readers wouldn't use "crestfallen." They'd naturally read it as "chestfallen."

What's the deal?

I personally use 'crestfallen'. Never heard 'chestfallen' used until now.

 

[MichelleLovesTo]

Shrug. I've been a reader all my life as well. And I'm pretty sure I've seen it. But maybe I'm either deluding myself...or the dyslexia kicked in and I mistook that "r" for an "h" all these years.

Here's some evidence that it exists outside of me.

"i must admit, my ego is a little chestfallen at the lack of replies..."

"George saw the "I love Reagan" Tatoo and he was chestfallen. ......'

Two example of use on the internet. I'm not the only one.

In a big wide world it would amaze me if you were the only person who misheard/misread the word. It still doesn't make it legitimate and -- if I read it in a story -- I would lose a little faith in the writer.

 

[SweetPrettyAss]

In a big wide world it would amaze me if you were the only person who misheard/misread the word. It still doesn't make it legitimate and -- if I read it in a story -- I would lose a little faith in the writer.

I don't recall ever seing chestfallen used and if I ever did, I would think it was a typo.