[Ads-l] Well, that's unexpected.

[Ben Zimmer]

It was also one of the earliest entries in the Eggcorn Database, back
in '04 (tagged as "nearly mainstream").

http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/33/diffuse/

On Mon, Mar 16, 2015 at 10:25 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
> I think I posted something on this a few years back.  At any rate, I recall
> a graduate student in English insisting to me some ten or twelve years ago
> that "diffuse" was correct in such cases.
>
> She wasn't sure why. Maybe because "defuse" meant bombs.
>
> On Sun, Mar 15, 2015 at 3:17 PM, guy1656 at centurylink.net wrote:
>
> > I imagine distribution by means similar to an aerosol spray.
> >
> > > Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> > >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > Perhaps she was thinning it out, rather than spreading it around.
> > > On Mar 14, 2015 6:23 PM, "Wilson Gray" <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > >
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > Daily Kos headline:
> > >
> > > "Joan Baez _diffuses_ right-wing protest at Idaho concert"
> > >
> > > Isn't she a left-over lefty from the '60's?

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