Eggcorn?

Arnold M. Zwicky zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU
Tue Oct 18 00:13:21 UTC 2005


On Oct 17, 2005, at 2:01 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:

> "Microsoft's position ... cast _dispersions_ on the fairness and
> objectivity of a  ... state government's process."
>
> <http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5893208-4.html?tag=st.next> p.4

more are to be found: ca. 629 raw google web pages.

neither "aspersion" nor "dispersion" is particularly frequent, but
the latter has the semantic advantage of having the negative prefix
"dis-", so this is a candidate for eggcornhood.

i would have suggested it was a blend, if i could have thought of a
noun "dis-X" that would fit in the slot "cast dis-Xs on".  maybe
others are cleverer than i am.

arnold



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