Eggcorn: Conjugate for Congregate

[Mark Mandel]

On Fri, May 29, 2009 at 8:35 PM, Doug Harris <cats22 at stny.rr.com> wrote:
>
> Just found this in a note on a Facebook page (of an arms-length relative
> of whom I'd never heard until two days ago):
>
> "Some kid has stopped in the middle of the hallway with a group of his friends. They've conjugated in the middle of the hallway, sucking up valuable space so they can do something stupid like compare shoe sizes."

I didn't think they allowed that in school, let alone in the hallway!

3 a: fusion of usually similar gametes with ultimate union of their
nuclei and sexual reproduction that occurs in most fungi and in some
algae (as green algae) b: temporary cytoplasmic union with exchange of
nuclear material that is the usual sexual process in ciliated
protozoans c: the one-way transfer of DNA between bacteria in cellular
contact
(Merriam-Webster, "conjugation")

--
Mark Mandel

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