unwittingly

[Joel S. Berson]

At 2/19/2012 07:25 AM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>I first saw the headline and it puzzled me a bit.
>
>http://www.wisn.com/video/30483779/detail.html
>Driver Unwittingly Rescues Friend From Drowning
>
>
>What does that headline mean to you? Given all the options, my first
>reaction was, (1) did he not know he was saving someone? Then came the
>secondary thought--or (2) did he not that the person he was rescuing was
>a friend?
>
>It turns out, the correct interpretation is (2).
>
>>A driver saves a young man who turns out to be a family friend.
>
>Maybe I am reading too much into this ambiguity--I'm sure, Ron Butters
>will think so. Nonetheless, I wanted to share it.

Nah -- it means he did it in some stupid, risky way (without
wits).  (Either that, or somebody mangled -- or redacted? -- a word
meaning "reluctantly".)

"Unknowingly" is surely available here.

Joel

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