malaprop? or what?

[Jonathan Lighter]

Since I'm unfamiliar with the "Redskins bandwagon" phenomenon, the oddness/silliness must lie elsewhere for me.

I wouldn't consciously use any of these constructions, nor can I recall having heard them, but they do sound like the sort of thing one might say spontaneously, especially if one were a thirty- or fortysomething talk-show guest.

Jesse will surely be  keeping a weather eye out for real examples.

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?
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From: Jonathan Lighter

> 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.


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