Pontius "Pie Late"; prolific

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Fri, Apr 06, 2007 at 10:07:20AM -0700, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
> On Apr 6, 2007, at 5:20 AM, Jon Lighter wrote:
>
> >...  On the same show, an FBI spokesman explained that the fugitive
> >from yesterday's New Jersey shooting is "prolific and dangerous."
> >Wha ?  He's likely to have more criminal kids before he's caught ?
>
> malaprops (of all types) tend to induce bewilderment in me.  what was
> the right target word here?

I don't think this is a malapropism, just an extended use. If
prolific authors write a lot of books, so too must prolific
criminals commit a lot of crimes. (Or whatever; I don't know
about the criminal in question, but I'm better that he does a
lot of something.)

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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