escape goat

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The Eggcorn Database has an entry for "scapegoat >> escape goat".
Perhaps some football fans carefully read Leviticus while wondering
about rituals of atonement.

http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/242/escape-goat/
http://www.cjr.org/language_corner/passing_the_blame.php

[Begin excerpt]
The concept of the "scapegoat" is in the Bible, in Leviticus, as part
of the ritual of atonement. The word "scape-goat" itself, though, did
not appear until 1530, according to The Oxford English Dictionary: "In
the Mosaic ritual of the Day of Atonement (Lev. xvi), that one of two
goats that was chosen by lot to be sent alive into the wilderness, the
sins of the people having been symbolically laid upon it, while the
other was appointed to be sacrificed." That first goat escaped death,
though it was loaded with sin. Since "scape" was merely a spelling
variation of "escape," it was, literally, an "escape goat."
[End excerpt]


On Mon, Nov 5, 2012 at 3:30 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      escape goat
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Picked up on intertubes... "Escape goat" http://goo.gl/Kjeac
>
> Not the first time someone noticed it, for sure, but still something I
> would not have believed as a creation/mishearing, except in very young
> kids... Of course, grown college football fans probably have the same
> mental age... http://goo.gl/B7kCs
>
>>     If Rodriguez an architect and Stewart a painter, then Holgy is..
>>     [ed: the architect/painter dichotomy comes from a famous WVU
>>     booster quote]
>>     ...
>>     Wvrefugee: a poor Hal Mumme impersonator! [ed: ouch. he's an
>>     excellent Hal Mumme impersonator.]
>>     wvdave902: .....the 'escape goat' that all of the 'fair weather,
>>     bandwagoner, "I want it NOW!" kids,...... want to throw under the
>>     bus...........
>>
>
>      VS-)
>
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