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Chris -- 2025-05-10
Google counts on Aug 6, 2007
37,300 “unwitting victim”
25,900 “unwilling victim”
Analysis by Joe Krozel
The expression “unwitting victim” is virtually a cliche. “Unwitting” means “unknowing,” and if the unwitting one only knew the circumstance, he’d probably also be unwilling. So, I’m leaning toward “unwilling victim” being an eggcorn because the meaning works out. Although “unwilling victim” might be proper usage, it just strikes me a bit odd because a victim is never really willing. I’m sure others may disagree, but I still wonder whether the utterers were altering an expression that might have originated with “unwitting”.
Examples
Nowhere PageMaybe this is because you have been caught out by unexpected traffic congestion and become the unwilling victim of the crime of time theft. ...
citytransport.info/Nowhere.htm – 12k – Cached – Similar pages
Unwilling victim points out shooter in triple murder.(News …Unwilling victim points out shooter in triple murder.(News) Publication Date: 19-APR-02 Publication Title: Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL) ...
goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-1609282_ITM – 27k – Cached – Similar pages
American Experience | Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst …Was Patty Hearst an unwilling victim, either brainwashed or acting the part of a revolutionary in the interest of self-preservation? ...
www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/guerrilla/sfeature/sf_poll.html – 22k – Cached – Similar pages
Abducted … and Loving It ~ Rod Harden ~ eBookMall ~ eBooksThe stories in this anthology explore the dark, outer extreme of power exchange between an abductor and his unwilling victim. ...
Last edited by jorkel (2007-08-07 14:03:52)
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I wonder whether it’s more accurate to say that someone is “unwittingly tricked” or “unwillingly tricked”. Could this be an eggcorn, or is either word usage correct? ...Maybe I need a grammar lesson.
Examples:
Digg – Science or Torture? Dreadful Experiment Yields Shocking ResultsIn the Milgram experiment the subjects were unwillingly tricked into thinking they were hurting and killing somebody. Theres a big difference. ...
www.digg.com/general_sciences/Science_o … ?t=1633345 – 22k – Cached – Similar pages
Official eMule-Board > Guess What? New User Needs Help!This means I unwillingly tricked my computer into believing he was downloading an application. And my computer went quite mad. Infact, I can’t rename nor …
forum.emule-project.net/lofiversion/index.php/t108195.html – 9k – Cached – Similar pages
Forums Atari Europe – Hardcore ModeThrough advertisements and statements made by Atari/Eden staff, I feel that I was unwillingly tricked into purchaseing something I have no use for” and on …
forums.eu.atari.com/printthread.php?t=49416&page=2&pp=30 – 42k – Cached – Similar pages
Last edited by jorkel (2007-08-07 14:05:26)
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I think you’re right on both counts, jorkel! I agree that no one is willingly tricked or a willing victim. Such statements belong in the department of redundancy department.
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I think you can be a “witting” victim—you can realize that you’ve been victimized. And if you were an unwitting victim, you would not realize right away that you’d been a victim; in fact, you might never realize it.
But I don’t understand how anyone would be “wittingly” tricked. To be tricked is to be fooled; isn’t “unwittingly tricked” a repetitive redundancy? I suppose you might never realize you were tricked; you would always think you were hurting or killing somebody in the case of that experience.
The user who unwi[tt]ingly tricked his computer is a slightly different thing. He tricked his computer into doing something, but his trickerY (instead of trickerEE) was somethign he hadn’t intended, hence unwitting.
But I think it’s sort of an eggcorn—people think the phrase is something else.
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