malaprop? or what?

[David Bowie]

From:    Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>

> 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.

> How about an adj.:

> 3. ? ST for Ls is becoming bandwagon.

Respectively no, yes, no.

Re (1), though, that "Social Security reform has become a bandwagon"
works for me.

> Hmmm. The more I say them, the more normal they sound.  HELP
> MEEEEEEE!!!!!!

And, i'll readily admit, i don't use any of these--the main reason,
though, is that the term "bandwagon" sounds silly to me after Tony
Kornheiser's whole "Redskins bandwagon" thing that *still* pops up in
his Washington Post columns.

--
David Bowie                                         http://pmpkn.net/lx
     Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
     house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
     chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.