squirmish; pub

Amy West medievalist at W-STS.COM
Thu Jun 2 12:36:06 UTC 2011


On 6/2/11 12:01 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> Date:    Wed, 1 Jun 2011 10:25:44 -0700
> From:    Arnold Zwicky<zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> Subject: Re: squirmish; pub
>
> On Jun 1, 2011, at 7:39 AM, Jon Lighter wrote:
>
>> >
>> >  Sarah Palin wondered on Fox (March 28) whether US Libyan involvement is a
>> >  "war," an "intervention," or a "squirmish":
>> >
>> >  http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/03/29/palin_squirmish
> piles and piles of mockery on her "squirmish" for "skirmish".
>
> arnold

There was a Language Log posting about it that suggested a possible
phonological explanation for the mispronunciation.

--
---Amy West

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