Mind at the end of its tether

by John Holbo on July 10, 2007

Just wanted to take note of a felicitous typo from Andrew Sullivan:

But it could give the neocons a new leash on life, a way to invigorate their exhausted ideological engines.

Quite unrelatedly, I was amused to read:

It is debatable whether paganism is a religion, per say.

I’m not sure whether he misspelled ‘per se’ or was, rather, reaching for ‘so to speak’, as one might grope for the bottle.

The piece reminded me of Kieran’s post about how ‘atheism’ was, originally, a charge lodged against Christians. It’s interesting to find predicates that have wandered so comprehensively.

{ 12 comments }

1

alwsdad 07.10.07 at 11:49 am

Yesterday I learned what Nixon thought of Fred Thompson and today I’m reading Chuck Colson. Is this one of those “flashbacks” the high school drug counselors warned us about?

2

nnyhav 07.10.07 at 11:55 am

The trade of sugar resulted in the cornmodification of human life. (whence)

3

Alex 07.10.07 at 12:50 pm

Obviously, neocons would consider a leash a source of invigoration. Isn’t it just what you’d expect of them?

4

dearieme 07.10.07 at 1:27 pm

Post hock, propter hock.

5

Danielle Day 07.10.07 at 2:27 pm

I keep running into homonyminous misspellings by people who really should know better– or should that be “no better”. I barely/bearly notice the too/to their/there weather/whether it’s/its things any more. How common. Lately, i ran into sole/soul, which raises all kinds of interesting questions.

I guess there should be a context-checker (“did you really mean…?”) up there in the Spell Check menu. Don’t they teach this stuff in school any more. It seems that if it sounds like it, it’s ok.

6

"Q" the Enchanter 07.10.07 at 4:24 pm

Yes, the leash of dark satanic Millian liberalism.

And dearieme, clearly the correct typo is “post hack ergo propter hack.”

7

JR 07.10.07 at 5:47 pm

Leash on life and per say in one sentence- a record. Matt Yglesias is famous for these- he awaits things with baited breath, for example, and then he gets hooked.

If you like this sort of thing, you should read Language Log, a linguists’ blog, which has named them “eggcorns” – among them do process, inclimate weather, with flying collars, nip it in the butt. See their eggcorn database at http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/

8

dearieme 07.10.07 at 7:17 pm

“q”: it was my father’s attempt to improve on “in vino veritas”. He liked Moselle too.

9

"Q" the Enchanter 07.10.07 at 7:39 pm

Delightful, dearieme. Thanks for clarifying.

10

bad Jim 07.11.07 at 8:07 am

When questioned, my brother-in-law admitted he thought one was expected to tow the line (yo, yo, heave ho).

I wonder whether those who’ve seen the “Dog Whisperer” videos find “a new leash on life” suddenly appealing or utterly appalling.

11

Henry (not the famous one) 07.11.07 at 1:33 pm

Similar point: fifty years ago, under the Basic Steel Agreement, grievances went to arbitration either before Permanent Umpires or Ad Hoc Arbitrators, whom the Steelworkers immediately renamed Odd Hacks,

12

sara 07.12.07 at 12:24 am

This quote is terrible to begin with, even before “per say” — several buried metaphors poke out their rotting and promiscuously mixed limbs. “Leash” suggests dogs or other animals; “invigorate” is also a biological metaphor, but “exhausted engines” is mechanical. I’m envisioning China Miéville’s steampunk creatures (the Remade, humans with mechanical augments)

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