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Chris -- 2025-05-10
In today’s NY Times Book Review, (Oct 15, 2006) the essay on the last page by Henry Alford, itself a charming spoof on candid literary obituaries, makes the classic error of confusing credibilty with credulity.
I quote: “To encounter…a transformation…that any film actor in ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ would have thought strained CREDIBILITY.”(para 3, lines 8-10) The correct usage here is “strained credulity”.Offline
Interesting entry.
In a tangential way, it reminds me of the old joke of telling someone that the word “gullible” is not in the dictionary—then waiting around until he/she checks. I think that joke would have been a greater hit if the chosen word were “credulity.” I would even venture to guess that many people do not think it is a word. (Perhaps a few will have to check to find out for sure!)
Last edited by jorkel (2006-10-15 16:39:02)
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