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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
I noticed it here:
http://fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl … FOSOPINION
(“They told me to report the person who released the rabbits and to call the Animal Welfare Unit about the town’s responsibilities in this situation, which I did, but to no prevail.”)
She’s not alone either:
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22to+no+prevail%22
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Welcome to the Eggcorn website, psand.
Your example does carry some merit, but I’m always a little wary of situations where a writer selects the wrong prefix …partly because the possibilities seem endless.
But having said that, I think the notion of “prevailing” at the end of an effort has a certain appeal to it. Some utterers might find less sense to “avail” in “to no avail” than the corresponding expression with “prevail” in it.
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I think it’s just a garden-variety malapropism. It’s probably even shown up in comedy somewhere.
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Usually malapropisms have a completely ludicrous sense to them. At least in the current example, the utterer might literally be indicating that he did not prevail in his effort. It’s odd that he modified an idiom to do it nonetheless.
Last edited by jorkel (2007-12-03 13:05:05)
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