eggcorn

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Jun 15, 2009, at 5:45 AM, Wilson Gray wrote:

> Hm. So, the popular pronunciation is starting to appear in print! ;-)
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Sun, Jun 14, 2009 at 11:40 PM, Victor<aardvark66 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>

>> Seems to be fairly common--30G+ raw ghits and at least the first
>> 200 are
>> clearly legitimate. I could not find it in ED.
>>
>> http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lakers-magic15-2009jun15,0,3950569.story
>> When the Magic called a timeout, Bryant balled up his fist after he
>> had scored. He bent over and _clinched his teeth_ before taking a
>> seat
>> on the bench

my reaction was much like wilson's.  i assumed this was just the
raising of [E] before nasal, now represented in the spelling.

of course there might be people who associate this use with one or
another of the senses of "clinch":
   confirm or settle (a contract or bargain)
   conclusively settle (an argument or debate)
   confirm the winning or acievement of (a game, competition, or
victory)
   secure (a nail or rivet) by driving the point sideways when it has
penetrated
(from NOAD2)

arnold

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