some kind of malaprop

Erik Hoover grinchy at GRINCHY.COM
Wed Mar 14 18:45:47 UTC 2007


I think Dr. Nehring or may have confused/switched noxious and innocuous.

Erik

On Mar 14, 2007, at 2:40 PM, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
> Subject:      some kind of malaprop
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> ---------
>
> elizabeth daingerfield zwicky sent me to
>
>    http://ecochildsplay.blogspot.com/2007/03/sigg-update.html
>
> with instructions to look for "innocuous".  here's the relevant
> passage:
>
>    “According to the results of our evaluation, use of a SIGG bottle
> does not add to the beverage any particles and/or components which
> are innocuous to human health.” – Dr. Ulrich Nehring, European
> Institute Nehring
>
> so "injurious" >> "innocuous".  i'd guess this was a classical
> malapropism -- Nehring got the word he wanted, but it's the wrong one
> from other people's perspective -- but it could have been a Fay/
> Cutler malaprop, an inadvertent error in word retrieval.
>
> arnold
>
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