oweness

• owness^[1][2]

An eggcorn of onus, as owe (“to be under obligation”, verb) +‎ -ness (abstract-noun suffix), interpretable as "the state of being under obligation." The eggcorn may have been produced due to the frequency of the collocation "the onus [is/was] on [someone] to," whereas onus is very rarely used in popular speech without this collocation.

• When pronounced identically to onus:
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊnəs/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /ˈoʊnəs/
  • Rhymes: -əʊnəs
• Sometimes slightly more stress is placed upon the second syllable. This is only used with the eggcorn because of the suffix -ness:
  • (US) IPA^(key): /ˈoʊˌnɛs/

oweness (usually uncountable, plural owenesses)

1. Eggcorn of onus; the condition of being obligated or responsible for something.
   • 2015 February 10, Village of Downers Grove, “rEmarks Data for February 10, 2015 Village Council Meeting”, in www.downers.us‎^[3]:

     These signs can be placed so that they dont^[sic] impeed^[sic] traffic patterns. The oweness is on the driver to read the signs in a safe and timely manner in my opinon^[sic].

   • 2021 January 2, Revolt Staff, “Singer Kim Hill responds to Will.i.am’s comments about the Black Eyed Peas”, in Revolt‎^[4]:

     “Why I’m coming on camera and addressing you is because for you to make that statement as if the oweness is on the Black community to celebrate you and the band when you didn’t celebrate us,” Kim says in the video.

   • 2021 March 31, “The Real Housewives of Dallas recap: Kameron in the big, new house”, in Preston Hollow Advocate‎^[5]:

     “Since when is talking about somebody’s racist video worse than making a racist video? She offended an entire race of people, all of a sudden, the oweness is on me, how does this happen?”

• the oweness [is/was] on [someone]