Word substitution of the month
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An interesting malapropism:
The audio exchange:
Trump: It is going to disappear. It's going to disappear, I ((said)) that.
Stephanopoulos: ((Now if we don't))
Trump: It would go away without the vaccine, George.
But it's going to go away a lot faster with the
Stephanopoulos: It would go away without the vaccine?
Trump: Sure, over a period of time. Sure, with time. It goes away.
Stephanopoulos: And many deaths.
Trump: And you'll develop- you'll develop turd- like a herd mentality,
it's gonna be- it's gonna be
herd developed, and that's gonna happen. That will all happen.
Just the phase with the substitution:
And you'll develop- you'll develop turd- like a herd mentality,
it's gonna be- it's gonna be
herd developed,
The reason for the initial segment-level substitution — "turd" for "herd" — isn't clear, though maybe it's a perseveration of the consonant place feature from the initial /d/ in "develop".
But the substitution of "mentality" for "immunity" is a classic error. Both words are four-syllable nouns, ending in -ity, with second-syllable stress. And "herd mentality" is a common enough phrase to have its own Wikipedia page.
I'm assuming that this was a Fay-Cutler malapropism rather than a Richard Brinsley Sheridan one.
John Shutt said,
September 19, 2020 @ 2:02 pm
It may also not hurt, in facilitating the substitution, that the first consonant in both words is the same. Might be /too/ fine a point that in both the consonant before -ity is sonorant.
M. Paul Shore said,
September 19, 2020 @ 3:15 pm
I wonder whether up until the last moment Trump’s mind (such as it is) was vacillating between “tolerance” and “herd [immunity/mentality]”, and what finally came out was a blend of the two.
Rose Eneri said,
September 20, 2020 @ 8:31 am
My husband and I get such a kick out of listening to President Trump speak. He's always doing the sorts of things exemplified here. I'm LOLing thinking about combining the 2 mistakes into "turd mentality."
Andrew Usher said,
September 22, 2020 @ 6:53 pm
Not the most eloquent way of expressing it, is it? Even though he is of course right. "Herd developed" is even stranger than the use of 'herd mentality'. I imagine this has nothing to do with the unfortunate _mental_ interference some people have between 'herd immunity' and 'herd mentality' (believing the former must be an example of the latter, or something).
k_over_hbarc at yahoo.com
Alec said,
September 23, 2020 @ 5:02 pm
And what about the "strenuous flu"?
Andrew Usher said,
September 23, 2020 @ 6:15 pm
What is a 'strenuous flu'? Is that something else Trump said (or allegedly said) about the coronavirus?
If so again his meaning was clear but his word choice very bizarre.