malaprop? or what?

[Laurence Horn]

>I'm with Arnold on this one.  You can "jump on the bandwagon" or
>have a "bandwagon effect," but the quoted ex. had me baffled until
>David suggested an paraphrase.
>
>David, if "bandwagon" has been concretized into "an idea that has
>gained momentum," would  sentences like the following be idiomatic
>for you ?
>
>1. ? Social security reform is clearly becoming a bandwagon.
>
>2. ? Steroid testing for lexicographers?  That's a bandwagon nowadays.

or, if you prefer, "That's a bandwagon anymore."

>
>How about an adj.:
>
>  3. ? ST for Ls is becoming bandwagon.

beyond the pale

>Hmmm. The more I say them, the more normal they sound.  HELP MEEEEEEE!!!!!!
>
>JL
>
>David Bowie <db.list at PMPKN.NET> wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: David Bowie
>Subject: Re: malaprop? or what?
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>From: "Arnold M. Zwicky"
>
>>  from an NYT story "Trailer-Park Dwellers Fight Eviction From
>>  Paradise" by Chris Dixon, 5/2/05, p. A12 (the paradise in question is
>>  the beach at Laguna Beach, California):
>>  -----
>>  ...with a slice of paradise on the line, most residents have chosen
>>  to fight.
>
>>  "They're pulling this old bandwagon that's long dead and not true,"
>>  said Tim Williams, 36, who has lived at El Morro for nearly four
>>  years with his wife, Dalila, and their son, Sebastian, 5. "Saying
>>  people are denied access--that's a lie."
>>  -----
>>  ok, "bandwagon" is clearly not the word for the job. something like
>>  "canard" would fit. but what word was this guy aiming for? (or,
>>  alternatively, what did he say that the reporter misheard as
>>  "bandwagon"?)
>
>"Bandwagon" works for me--what's wrong with it? Is it clear in the story
>that he's not talking about an idea that has gained momentum (which is,
>to me, the general sense of the word)?
>
>--
>David Bowie http://pmpkn.net/lx
>Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
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>
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