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definitely/defiantly

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 8:56 am
by sardith
In response to a retirement announcement for my Uncle, a certain lady responded this way:

"I hope he enjoys his retirement, he has defiantly earned it."

I had to wonder if that was a keystroke error, or a parapraxis, from origins which I am unfamiliar.

Kind of wondered what my Uncle thought. . .

Sardith

Re: definitely/defiantly

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 12:25 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Or perhaps a reflection that he too lived in Dilbert's world!

Re: definitely/defiantly

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 8:13 pm
by gailr
That was probably a typographical error, missed from not proofreading. It's possible that she started typing and allowed a word processing program to suggest a word. It's even possible that she didn't know the difference if she doesn't read much.

Re: definitely/defiantly

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 10:06 pm
by Perry Lassiter
My wife is deaf and uses captions with the tv. At times they are hilarious as the typist tries to keep up with live speech. I could easily see that typo showing up. Try out your captioner sometime for, say, a ball game and watch what happens.

Re: definitely/defiantly

Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 3:17 am
by Philip Hudson
I prefer to take this as a malapropism and to justify it on the grounds of the Dilbert principles. In some work places it is hard to earn your keep because of constant management bombardment. I have often felt I could not do my job unless I defied the obstacles in the workplace. I see management as the major hindrance in public education, especially in Texas where our governator micromanages the state and believes he is leaving no child behind in our failed, over managed class rooms.

We have discussed parapraxis recently. I do not think spoonerisms and malapropisms are examples of parapraxis. As I understand it, spoonerisms are usually unintended but do not reveal any underlying meaning. Malapropisms may be due to ignorance of the meaning of words but they are more often deliberate ploys.