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Chris -- 2018-04-11
“Exhilarating†is not an easy spell—the silent “h,†the medial any-vowel schwa. This difficult word has no doubt terminated the careers of many prospective spelling bee champs. The trick is to remember that “exhilarating†is a cognate of the easier-to-spell “hilarious.â€
The ones who write “exhilarating†as “exhalerating‗and there are a lot of them on the web—have also made a cognate connection, but they’ve made the wrong one. “Exhale†is not related to “exhilarate.” The assumption that it is related kind of makes sense, though: exhilaration can lead to heavy breathing.
Meth addiction message board: “My high went from exhalerating to a full blown one way ticket to Hell.â€
Picture caption: “ exhalerating wet adventure white water raftingâ€
Web personals ad: “I love the spring and summer time smells, new life, the whole outside atmosphere. Its very exhalerating .†[Nature lovers may respond to his ad, but the fellow just tanked with the English major crowd.]
Last edited by kem (2013-12-28 15:29:04)
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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Exhaleration really takes my breath away. Do I sense a big fuzzy spot developing, connected to exceleration « acceleration? Along with accelerating « exhilarating. Check this one out for mind-bendfulness:
When we approach the process of maturation with awareness, aging is no longer defined by an increasingly rapid decline toward death. It becomes instead an accelerating adventure in the age-old quest for spiritual insight.
http://www.americanmeditation.org/newsl … n11_1.html
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an accelerating adventure
I think the writer may have intended “accelerating.” Note the parallelism with “rapid.”
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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Admittedly it is very diffficult to find any unambiguous example of accelerating « exhilarating, so it’s quite doubtful.
He recalled having the most accelerating feeling. It was a deep strong feeling. It was like nothing he had not experienced before.
ebook
These initiatives created a real inclusion of people with special needs in the wider society and provided an accelerating feeling for the person with special needs who now can stroll the University corridors and use the library
google book
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Hard to prove, as you say. We lack a good idiomatic embedding of “exhilarating.” My intuition, though, tells me that you are right, that “accelerating” is substituted for “exhilarating” with some regularity. Here are three more contexts where the switch seems to be at work:
Blog book review: “not knowing that they are to embark on the most exuberant and accelerating adventures of their entire lives.â€
Comment on fasting: “I am humbled and in gratitude and amazement about this mystical universe we live in. I am forever grateful for this most accelerating experience.â€
Fake diploma ad: “The law field can be an exciting and accelerating experience. Through internet resources a career and opportunity to obtain fake diploma new sites through online fake law degree programs can be simply acquired.â€
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A favorite of mine, about an American football player who got downfield of his would-be tacklers: “Look at him! just exhilarating down the field!â€
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2013-12-30 08:19:56)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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