tampered by the knowledge

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

i'm pretty sure i heard a reporter say (on NPR's Morning Edition
Saturday) that a reader's delight in the newest Harry Potter book was
"tampered [i.e. tempered] by the knowledge" that it was the last.
haven't been able to find the story on the website, though.

but here's one from a web search:

It is only through meeting his victims, and the victims of the
violent climate of Haiti, that the reader grows dislike towards the
Dew Breaker, but this dislike is tampered by the knowledge given
early on in the book that the Dew Breaker is remorseful for his foul
deeds.  [review of Edwidge Danticat's The Dew Breaker]
http://www.gothicrevue.com/dewbreaker.html

here's a different wrong word choice involving "tampered".  as is so
often the case with classical malapropisms, i'm still stumped as to
what the right target should be:

Let me tell you how. With what I've experienced as a Search Quality
Analyst, Google, the best way to become an analyst is not to get
tampered by the knowledge that might be passed in totality to you
from some senior analyst.
http://researchatmdi.blogspot.com/2007/07/first-sophisticated-
seminar.html

arnold

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