"confuse for"

[Joel S. Berson]

At 3/11/2013 10:23 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>CNN today describes an albatross chick fed plastic debris by "parents who
>confused it for food."

Is this a reversal or a crash blossom?  (Am I using the right technical term?)

That is, I read this as anthropophagic (even more horrifying,
filiophagic!) albatrosses.

Joel


>JL
>
>On Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 9:23 PM, Jonathan Lighter
><wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: "confuse for"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > My, my. I believe I coined this culturally indispensable acronym myself,
> > right here, on April 10, 2005.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 8:25 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at mst.edu
> > >wrote:
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at MST.EDU>
> > > Subject:      Re: "confuse for"
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > Yes, it's both.  We deal here with a blend: "confuse with" + "mistake
> > for".
> > >
> > > Gerald Cohen
> > >
> > >  ________________________________________
> > > Original message from Jonathan Lighter, Friday, January 04, 2013 3:36 PM:
> > > From a journalistic website:
> > > http://www.livescience.com/11341-good-food-bad.html :
> > > "What a pity that most Americans have never eaten pizza and confuse it
> > for
> > > the junk food advertised on television. In Italy there are laws defining
> > > pizza."
> > > With > for?  Or mistake > confuse?  Or both?
> > > JL
> > >
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>
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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