This is almost an eggcorn

[James Harbeck]

>Yes, "attic" for "addict" seems like simply a misspelling based on
>the phonology of certain dialects; "addict" for "attic" is harder to
>figure.

Hmm... "Hey, Maude, how d'you spell attic?"

"Addict? A-d-d-i-c-t."

Well, one possibility, anyway. I suppose the writer may have assumed
that it was another case of one word with two fairly different
meanings and learned the spelling of "addict"... If someone spelled
it "addic" it could have been spell check, too. (And maybe the writer
saw the spelling "relict" somewhere and thought from that that a
silent t was reasonable on the end of this word.)

Oh, where is a verbal Horation Kane when we need him, to discover the
real answers so neatly with lucky bits of evidence and technology,
all in an hour flat?

James Harbeck.

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