fraudulate

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

a friend wrote yesterday:

  >Sorry to poke into your day, but someone on Judge Judy just said
"I did not fraudulate him." after she was accused of defrauding her
ex-boyfriend.  Wow.  I'm impressed.<

as reported on Television Without Pity:

  >JJ: You took money from him fraudulently, so you have to pay him
back!
  >Lady: No ma'am, I didn't fraudulate him.
   http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/index.php?
showtopic=3112947&st=690

fair number of webhits, including from rap lyrics.  "So Be It" by UTFO:

   >Don't fraudulate, don't try to be a clone Cause I'ma ninja and I
break bones I stand by myself, not beside myself This obstacle's
impossible for anyone else ...
   http://www.gettherhythm.com/u/utfo/so_be_it.html

and "Freestyle - Q-Tip" by Funkmaster Flex:

   >Or fraudulate, I gotta make these chickenheads wait About to cop
this tape, hop in my whip and skate So hit your nearest location,
support your hip-hop ...
   http://www.gettherhythm.com/f/funkmaster_ flex/freestyle_-_q-tip.html

these have accented -ate /et/.  but a whole lot of the "fraudulate"
hits clearly are misspellings of "fraudulent", surely with unaccented
-ate /@t/:

  >This is a fraudulate statement. Huygens principle, Fresnel's
diffraction mechanism, Maxwell's structure of light are theories.
  http://orum.physorg.com/index.php?showtopic=6544&st=30

  >They are actually VERY happy that we will go the extra mile to
insure that their card isn't being used for fraudulate activity.
   http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-5301.html

yet another example of -ate for unaccented -ant/-ent, which we've
been collecting here and on Language Log for several years
(inclimate, delinquate, elephate, pregnate, etc.).

arnold

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