Searching for the right word

[Bill Palmer]

The speaker at my Rotary Club meeting today, a Palestinian and a fluent, but non-native English speaker, referring to Hamas, said "...Hamas is a...what do you say in English?...a getaway goat" A moment's reflection revealed he was thinking "escape" for "scape" and substituting the synonym.

Interesting.  I wonder if a term exists that describes that sort of substitution.

Bill Palmer

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