exasperating the situation

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Sep 19, 2010, at 10:51 AM, Jon Lighter wrote:
>
> Christine O'Donnell said this week in an interview that something or other
> "only exasperates the situation."
>
> I've heard the substitution of "exasperate" for "exacerbate"  enough times
> to convince me that it isn't just a slip of the tongue.
>
> Over 6,000 raw Googlits on "to exasperate the situation."

....

Pat Schwieterman on the Eggcorn Forum, 4/13/06:
 http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=9216

This is clearly a [classical] malapropism rather than an eggcorn; the writers meant “exacerbate,” and “exasperate” really doesn’t make much sense in this phrase. I found roughly 1500 hits for the various forms of “exasperate the situation” – which suggests that a complete tally of all “exasperate”/”exacerbate” substitutions would probably run into the tens of thousands. And notice that this appears on a number of official or high profile sites: The Red Cross of America, Wikipedia, local government websites, etc. Spellcheckers might also play a role here, but I first heard it on the radio. I get the feeling that “exasperate the situation” may have attained a certain degree of mainstream acceptance among those who spend much of their time reading and writing officialese. Examples:

This week, rain showers exasperated the situation when runoff contaminated by dead bodies in rubble piles flowed into the streets.
http://www.redcross.org/news/in/earthqu … 5c-99.html

Apparently untrained security guards firing tear gas at the stampeding fans exasperated the situation further, and may have been the cause of the deaths.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellis_Park_Stadium

The looting and burning of the facilities have exasperated the situation.
http://www.educationnews.org/writers/ch … months.htm

Preconceived notions, neglect and contempt, mutual distrust and arcane codes and bye-laws have only exasperated the situation.
http://www.gdrc.org/icm/ppp/prague.html

Councilman Gisriel voiced concern with parking being a premium in certain areas, this amendment exasperated the situation.
http://www.town.ocean-city.md.us/clerk/ … 81996.html
.....

>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org