Malapropism (?)

[Michael H Covarrubias]

Because of "helped" I see this as ambiguous.  I didn't hear the story.  Was the
reported claiming that the felon didn't do anything to stop the fraud?  If so,
that might be better said with 'perpetuate' than with 'perpetrate.'

Michael

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>
> On Nov 15, 2006, at 5:45 AM, Charlie Doyle wrote:
>
> > This morning an NPR newscaster, in reference to the sentencing of
> > another Enron executive, said that the felon "helped perpetuate
> > fraud."  I assume he was misreading "perpetrate."  I think that
> > mistake is rather common, but I somehow keep expecting more from
> > those NPR high-brows!
>
> several hundred google webhits for "perpetuate fraud", including many
> from places that should have known better.
>
> arnold
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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   English Language & Linguistics
   Purdue University

   mcovarru at purdue.edu

   web.ics.purdue.edu/~mcovarru
  <http://wishydig.blogspot.com>

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