I was surprised that neither Grant nor Martha considered the possibility that the fellow who changed Slake into Slate might have been thinking of the word "sate," which most certainly is the correct term for drinking away one's thirst. Clearly, "slate" has an added "L" but makes more sense as a bastardization of "sate" than as a muddled version of the less known word "slake."
There's a linguistic affliction (been trying for ages to find the name for this – it's not homonym . . .) where a similarly-sounding word or phrase is written or spoken incorrectly - usually due to not-ever having seen it written down.
My ma-in-law was as sharp as a needle but left school at the age of 9 (nine) without being able to read. She had the ability to read people like a book (!) but couldn't use words. She knew which of our friends were having affairs long before anyone else caught on. But she came out with words like "hammer rack" instead of "anorak".
It's partly ignorance and partly laziness and a bit of habitual-familiarity thrown in. (It wasn't until I was 19 that I heard the word "pamphlet" spoken. I always thought of it as, and said it as, "pamplet".)
I write professionally now (reviews mostly) and have been amazed at my colleagues coming out with these . . . whaddyucallems. Of late "hidden in the midst of time" springs to mind. (My wife recounted something similar in that at school (England) and reading Catcher in the Rye she read "sonofabitch" as so-nova-bitch - never having heard it spoken.)
This 'affliction' is widespread. But the thing is that it's all about communication. It might be grammatically incorrect but everyone understands what you're saying. I citrd wtsye ary otd svht of sfetf asnd yiu wnmuyd udgsreawd wset it mrqrt. The brain picks up on it and fills out the gaps. The blindingly precise glistening shades of meaning of words . . .
. . . that's another thing altogether.
robsamui said:
This 'affliction' is widespread. But the thing is that it's all about communication. It might be grammatically incorrect but everyone understands what you're saying. I citrd wtsye ary otd svht of sfetf asnd yiu wnmuyd udgsreawd wset it mrqrt. The brain picks up on it and fills out the gaps.
OK. It's early and I'm tired, but I can't make heads or tails of it. Help?
Neither can I, CheddarMelt. I don't think it's you.
CheddarMelt said:
robsamui said:
This 'affliction' is widespread. But the thing is that it's all about communication. It might be grammatically incorrect but everyone understands what you're saying. I citrd wtsye ary otd svht of sfetf asnd yiu wnmuyd udgsreawd wset it mrqrt. The brain picks up on it and fills out the gaps.
OK. It's early and I'm tired, but I can't make heads or tails of it. Help?
My guess: "I could write any old sort of stuff and you would understand what it meant." Most (but not all) of the letters are adjacent to the correct letters on the keyboard. I've touch-typed sentences like this many times, before realizing that my hands weren't on "home position" when I started.