per se » per say
Classification: English – cross-language
Spotted in the wild:
- The self-titled debut isn’t bad, per say, but it does have a guilty-pleasure feel that may have been better received in the hazy days of summer. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 14, 2005)
- Resident Sara Torre said, “I’m not concerned about the Wal-Mart per say, but I’m concerned about the scope of the project and the location.” (Capital News 9, 2005/1/2)
- “We really are on track, we’re not in a crisis,” Morrison said. “We don’t need a change agent per say, we want someone who’s going to stay with this vision that’s working.” (Marshfield Mariner, February 9, 2005)
ceanothus » cyanothus
Classification: English – cross-language
Spotted in the wild:
- Trees and all plant life show signs in spring of the natural cycle of renewal. We do it, too. We may not be as obvious about it as the plum trees and the pale-blue cyanothus bush or the waxy camelia. Yet we do it nonetheless. (link)
- Deer in the wild feed on herbs, fresh shoots of brush, shrubs such as cyanothus, and especially acorns in the fall. (link)
- The brushy areas are also of several distinct kinds, but these merge into one another more or less, and with the exception of perhaps the sage, cyanothus and salmon berry regions, need not be considered as having peculiar avifauna. (link)
Ceanothus is a blue-flowering bush native to California.
prima donna » pre-madonna
Variant(s): premadonna
Classification: English – cross-language – resyllabification
Spotted in the wild:
- Ankela is a little pre-madonna. What an attitude problem. (rec.sport.soccer)
- “A contractor who was working for me quit about 2 weeks into January.
The dude was premadonna headcase; came and went as he pleased, social
moron (i.e. HR disaster waiting to happen), unreliabliable, etc. Not
terribly uncommon in the software industry, but aggravating nonetheless.” (link)
paramour » power mower
Classification: English – cross-language
Spotted in the wild:
- Meanwhile, Richard Parker Bowles, brother of Camilla’s ex-husband, Andrew, said that from the beginning Camilla approved of Charles marrying Diana while she remained his power mower. (Richmond, VA Times-Dispatch, Jan. 1995 [in Arnold Zwicky, see link])
bona fide » bonified
Classification: English – cross-language
Spotted in the wild:
- We offer Adventure activities like Skiing, Camping, Scuba, Kayaking, and much more. We serve All active duty, retired military, DOD civilians, and their family members; and bonified guests of eligible patrons are eligible. (Presidio of Monterey/Outdoor Recreation)
