delibility

[Joel S. Berson]

At 11/15/2009 10:58 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> From one of the CBS announcers of today's Jets-Jaguars football game,
>after Jets' quarterback Mark Sanchez is sacked in the first quarter
>and goes down hard:
>
>"Those type of hits leave an indelible--and sometimes a *delible* mark."
>
>Evident a delible mark is like an indelible one only more so.

I wonder if he meant a mental, subconscious imprint -- one that a
quarterback, particularly a rookie, as Sanchez is, will long remember
-- in contrast to the physical, visible mark.

Of course we all know that's not quite what "delible" means -- viz.
OED.  Unless the speaker had in mind that the remembrance and
associated anxiety would fade eventually.

Joel

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