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Chris -- 2018-04-11

#1 2014-01-28 03:25:58

Dixon Wragg
Eggcornista
From: Cotati, California
Registered: 2008-07-04
Posts: 1375

"disenfranchised"?

Recently I stumbled upon this one:

In 2012 Kay (and “Of By For” producer Chad Monnin) became disenfranchised with the current political landscape and wanted to measure publicsentiment.
magazine article

It seemed clear that the writer really meant a different word, probably “disenchanted”. A little searching found this blog which discusses the misuse of “disenfranchised”, but assumes it’s a substitution for “disillusioned”. I think “disenchanted” is the more likely acorn here, because of the greater pronunciation similarity. In fact, the pronunciation similarity between “disenfranchised” and “disenchanted” may arguably be enough to place this substitution in eggcorn territory. The meaning connection would be that disenfranchisement can be expected to be highly correlated with disenchantment (and with disillusion too, for that matter).

Googling “disenfranchised with” yielded 679 purportedly unique hits, most of which are this (arguably) eggcornish usage.

A fugitive Dog Boy who became disenfranchised with the Coalition, Butch was recruited by Lance Andrews from a small band of bounty hunters in Tolkeen.
fan fiction site

...many centists who vote Republican may become increasingly disenfranchised with the extremist tenancies of the GOP…
political discussion

Obsessed with photography, architecture, and psychology but recently disenfranchised with politics :(.
blog

In the Cold War, workers everywhere became disenfranchised with the society they lived in and so declared themselves Communist.
article about ID cards

You’re somewhat disenfranchised with the American political system, and you feel like there’s nobody in Washington who represents you.
test results

I have withheld from registering for a long time and have tried to ignore your posts, but I fear that too many people read them and become disenfranchised with products based upon your opinions.
hobbyists’ discussion

The club is not what it was 10 years ago, and I find myself more and more disenfranchised with the game at the highest levels.
sports discussion

If the grass roots are disenfranchised with the party, we can lose elections.
news article

The preponderance of political examples suggests that this substitution often has lots to do with a kind of smearing of the meanings between “disenfranchised” and “disenchanted”.

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#2 2014-01-28 08:20:31

DavidTuggy
Eggcornista
From: Mexico
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 2714
Website

Re: "disenfranchised"?

I’d call this a malapropism but not an eggcorn. Many malaprops have a meaning connection, sure, but the perps are not thinking the eggcorn meaning and making it fit into the acorn context. In this case, I don’t suppose they are thinking “I can no longer vote”, just failing to realize that that’s what disenfranchised is supposed to mean. If it’s toned way down to “I no longer have any influence”, well, maybe …
.
I think disengaged is probably in this blurry spot somewhere as well.


*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .

(Possible Corollary: it is, and we are .)

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