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#1 2010-08-27 19:03:42

David Bird
Eggcornista
From: The Hammer, Ontario
Registered: 2009-07-28
Posts: 1702

"wet" for "vet"

“Vetting”, as in verifying the credentials, background, blood work and dental health of two- or four-legged hopefuls, came from the once-over that horses had to pass through at race time, at the hands of a veterinarian. Security vetting is currently being seen as wetting principally in South Asia. I think the third example is evidence that wetting is the liquid kind, where security “wetted down” concert-goers. How they think wetting is useful here, I’m not sure.

one India
Both SPG and SDG personnel ‘’are thoroughly security wetted.’’

Sri Lankan news
Proper security wetting (checking) of women entering the Temple Trees high security zone in Kollupitiya is restrained by the shortage of female security personnel to man the check points.

Concert security goons
I could see the (previously mentioned) bar security wetting down the front two rows, that was pure class.

Asian Tribune
the Treasury experts are given full liberty and respect in taking and proposing policies, with of course necessary political wetting and weighing by the President himself

Indian blog
This is in sharp contrast to the traditional practice of according primacy to political management and political wetting of every decision of a government.

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#2 2010-08-28 13:49:19

patschwieterman
Administrator
From: California
Registered: 2005-10-25
Posts: 1680

Re: "wet" for "vet"

Coincidentally enough, the Wikipedia article on “Indian English” mentions the homophony of “wet” and “vet”:

Standard Hindi and most other vernaculars (except Punjabi & Bengali) do not differentiate between /v/ (voiced labiodental fricative) and /w/ (voiced labiovelar approximant). Instead, many Indians use a frictionless labio-dental approximant [Ê‹] for words with either sound, possibly in free variation with [v] and/or [w]. So wet and vet are homophones.[3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_English

Of course, regional pronunciations can be a driver of eggcornification, so the Wiki entry isn’t necessarily counter-evidence for the eggcornicity of vet>>wet. But like you say, the logic is unclear. And I thought the best evidence might be your citation #3, because that use of “wetting” seems to borrow the “down” from the usual sense of “wetting down.” But looking back at the original post—about a hot, packed Nine Inch Nails concert in Portland—I think the nice bar security people (as opposed to the goonish door security people) were quite literally wetting down a hot and grateful crowd.

Last edited by patschwieterman (2010-08-28 14:23:55)

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#3 2010-08-29 18:24:54

David Bird
Eggcornista
From: The Hammer, Ontario
Registered: 2009-07-28
Posts: 1702

Re: "wet" for "vet"

Great detective work, that explains everything. It is indeed easy to find other similar substitutions.

Indian petition supporters
MONEY SHOULD NOT LIE IDLE OR SIPHONED BY WESTED INTEREST.

Gujarati celebrations
This article is really wary good. I really enjoy it.

Last edited by David Bird (2010-08-29 18:25:19)

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