diety complex

[Peter A. McGraw]

Yeah--they probably mixed up the "i before e" rule, meaning to write "deity
complex," a clear reference to the mindset of those religious
fundamentalists one hears so much about these days.

Peter

--On Saturday, July 30, 2005 11:20 AM -0700 "Arnold M. Zwicky"
<zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU> wrote:

> On Jul 30, 2005, at 4:45 AM, neil crawford wrote:
>
>> OK, so it may be a typo rather than an eggcorn, but, given the
>> obsession
>> with bodyweight, who knows?
>>
>> 'Psychiatric appraisal was this one would soon flip out, the well
>> known Diety complex everyone talked about.'
>
> how to tell?  this is so incredibly common as a misspelling, no doubt
> encouraged by the rule "i before e...", that i don't think you can
> attribute any particular motive to someone who produces it.
>
> arnold



***************************************************************************
Peter A. McGraw       Linfield College        McMinnville, Oregon
******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ****************************