exasperating the situation

[Jonathan Lighter]

Of course C O'D and the others mean "exacerbate."  But "exasperate" does
"make sense" like an eggcorn do.  When you exacerbate something,
you generally make it (more) exasperating.

JL

On Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 2:19 PM, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: exasperating the situation
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
>



-- 
"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