due to of

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

while looking for something entirely different, i came across "due to
of" 'due to, because of'.  enormous number of google web examples,
sometimes two or more in a single passage.  a sampling from the first
few pages of hits:

Bluewater boat ramps closed due to of low water.
kob.com/article/stories/S158806.shtml?cat=518

... tx failed due to of too many retries ... rx setup failed due to
of no skbuff ...
madwifi.org/wiki/ChipsetFeatures/Roaming

... and limited distributions are frequently a consequence of other
threats; populations confined to few small areas due to of habitat
loss, for example, ...
www.endangeredspecie.com/causes_of_endangerment.htm

IP joints are flexed due to unopposed action of long flexors, since
extensor expansion is lax due to of paralysis of interossei &
lumbricals; ...
www.wheelessonline.com/ortho/low_ulnar_nerve_injury

If the need for leave is due to of an emergency, employees must
provide notification as required by the employee's department.
www.washington.edu/admin/ hr/polproc/prostaff/leave/family.html

The Gardasil clinical trials have been halted due to of the success
of the ...
www.vaccinerx.com/news/cervical-cancer/gardasil-trials-end-on-tuesday-
due-to-success-20070227-93-56.html

The color change is due to of bile pigments that accumulate in the
blood and eventually in the skin and eyes. Inflammation due to the
autoimmune disease ...
findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2601/is_0003/ai_2601000309

Sympathomimetic drugs: Concomitant use of yohimbine is
contraindicated due to an increased risk of hypertensive crisis due
to of yohimbine's monoamine ...
www.naturalstandard.com/ InteractionHTML/basicData/yohimbe.asp

,,, was the preferred method for family planning due to of limited
access to contraception, ...
www.gfmer.ch/Medical_education_En/PGC_RH_2004/Gil_review.htm

.....

a few of these might have resulting from faulty editing -- starting
with "because of" and shifting to "due to", replacing "because" by
"due to" without deleting the "of" -- or from inadvertent blending of
"due to" and "because of", but the numbers are so large that it's
hard to avoid concluding that a fair number of these people are
typing exactly what they intend to type, that they think that "due to
of" is another multi-word prepositional constuction expressing cause.

no doubt "due to of" originated in an error of one sort or another,
but now it seems to have a life of its own for some people.

not in the standard usage dictionaries.

arnold

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