"conducive to"

[Joel S. Berson]

Not really likely, I think, but:  Certain kinds of open spaces,
perhaps especially those that landscape architects so love, are
inimical to desert ecology.

Joel

At 4/23/2008 01:42 PM, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
>in a NYT story today about the Union Park development planned for Las
>Vegas, a quote (p. A14 in the national edition) from Dave Hickey,
>culture critic for Vanity Fair:
>
>"The idea is that they're going to put in these public buildings and
>this is going to make a respectful downtown for Las Vegas without all
>the glitz and glamour, I guess, but I think it'll be a ghost town,"
>Mr. Hickey said.  "I don't see how the comings and goings will be
>facilitated.  And those open spaces that landscape architects so love
>are not really conducive to the desert climate."
>
>those open spaces do not make the desert climate likely or possible?
>absolutely not.  it's not that it's backwards: "the desert climate is
>not really conducive to those open spaces" isn't any better.  so it's
>a word choice problem, either a classical malapropism or an
>inadvertent error in lexical retrieval.  but as so often is the case
>with wonky word choices, i'm having troubling thinking of what he
>*should* have said.  maybe "compatible" instead of "conducive" -- and
>once you've selected the adjective you get the preposition ("to") that
>goes along with it.  any better suggestions?
>
>arnold
>
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