exasperating the situation

[Jonathan Lighter]

Christine O'Donnell said this week in an interview that something or other
"only exasperates the situation."

I've heard the substitution of "exasperate" for "exacerbate"  enough times
to convince me that it isn't just a slip of the tongue.

Over 6,000 raw Googlits on "to exasperate the situation."

JL

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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