the perils of accidental blending

[Beverly Flanigan]

Accidental blending, or a Freudian slip?

At 11:32 PM 3/23/2006, you wrote:
>St. Louis sports radio host Dave Lenihan got fired yesterday for using
>the word "coon" while discussing the possibility of Condoleezza Rice
>becoming NFL commissioner. But given the context, it seems he
>accidentally blended "coup" and "boon":
>
>"She's been chancellor at Stanford. I mean she's just got the patent
>resume of somebody that's got some serious skill. She loves football.
>She's African-American, which would kind of be a big coon ... A big
>coon? Oh my god. I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally
>sorry for that. OK? I didn't mean that. That was just a slip of the
>tongue."
>
>Full story, with audio link, here:
>http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/AD472B79A45C0CEB86257139006ED837?OpenDocument
>
>Bloggers are arguing quite a bit about whether the firing was justified...
>http://google.com/blogsearch?q=lenihan
>
>
>--Ben Zimmer
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org