"last stitch effort"

Wilson Gray wilson.gray at RCN.COM
Thu Sep 23 22:13:06 UTC 2004


On Sep 23, 2004, at 5:16 PM, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "last stitch effort"
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> --------
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> On Sep 23, 2004, at 1:39 PM, Wilson Gray asked me about eggcorns:
>
>> Arnold, do you have "supposably" already? It's *very* common in BE.
>
> i didn't have it in my files, but it turns out to be in paul brians's
> inventory of common errors in english.  many google hits, many of them
> pretty clearly not from BE.  there's even a sort of famous cite from
> Friends:
>
> Chandler: What if I never find someone? Or worse, what if I've found
> her, but
>   I dumped her because she pronounced it ‘supposably?’.
>
>> How
>> about "artificial insimilation"?
>
> totally new to me, not in any of the standard lists, and no google hits
> at all (web or groups).  contrast this to "inclimate weather", which is
> pretty common.
>
> wilson, do you have some actual cites?
>
> arnold
>

Unfortunately, no. I heard "artificial insimilation" on the Jerry
Springer Show about a month ago. I started to note it, but then I had
second thoughts, since it could have been merely a slip of the tongue.
And, given the lack of other cites, that's very likely to have been the
case.

I probably say "inclimate" myself. I'm going to have to monitor myself,
as I had to do to unlearn "irrevalent." BTW, have you noticed that C-J
Bailey makes a point of saying "e-pock"? I don't have his guts. The
first time that I said "e-pock" in front of a Northern audience was my
last time. The room fell silent. Finally, someone asked, "Do you mean
'eppuck'?"

-Wilson



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