interstate highway to Cupertino?

[Victor]

Would this make a case for "intestate" as a mere typo (as in "spelling
error because of a missed key stroke"):

 >>Wife and I have been on the _interstate_ on our wing since we got it
(only had it 3 months) but ride the _intestate_ only when other type
roads aren't convienent. [sic]
http://www.gl1800riders.com/forums/showpost.php?s=14a90fc0a940c0794f579aabcdd03329&p=2406714&postcount=8

There is an additional ironic twist in two of the 6 hits for "intestate
roads":

 >>_Intestate roads_ in Texas. State-by-state data on the number of
traffic fatalities occurring on rural, _non-Interstate routes_ from 1999
to 2003 ...
www.atssa.com/galleries/...file/TRIP_Rural_Roads_2005_Report.pdf

 >>Despite the wealth of knowledge available about safe highway design,
many new _Intestate roads_ have built-in death traps.
cgi.ebay.nl/SUPERHIGHWAY-SUPERHOAX-Helen-Leavitt-attack-on-highways_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQitemZ260396227065

Note that the first of these also has the interstate/intestate pair,
just like the example above.

And here's a reverse situation, apparently from a phishing email:

 >>I am currently reading a "letter" that has been written by a
Malaysian person apparently and in which an "unexpected inheritance" is
announced.

I am not taking this letter seriously but would be curious to understand
it fully. I came accross this sentence and wondered what "interstate"
means here :

I can confirm with certainty that the said investor dies interstate and
no next of kin to his estate has been found or has come forward all
these years.

-> Je peux vous confirmer avec certitude que le dit investisseur est
décédé (sans descendant??) et qu'aucun plus proche parent n'a été trouvé
ou ne s'est manifesté pendant toutes ces années.
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=985063

It stands to reason that spammers might use a spell-checker (although,
having seen quite a few of these, I wonder why anyone would bother). If
there is a Cupertino effect in this direction, wouldn't it make it
highly unlikely to have one in the opposite direction?

    VS-)

Arnold Zwicky wrote:
> the most likely source of "inteference" and "intecourse" isn't hard to
> find: the "r-dissimilation" in English studied by Nancy Hall and
> mentioned here several times in the past. (as far as i can see, these
> two words aren't in her lists, but they ought to be.) but in
> "interstate", there's no r-trigger for deletion of the r in "inter-".
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org