due to of

[Wilson Gray]

I'll accept "due to of" only after I hear or read "coughs due to of colds." ;-)

-Wilson

On 8/13/07, Arnold M. Zwicky <zwicky at csli.stanford.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
> Subject:      due to of
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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