I was driving home this afternoon and accidentally heard The Panel on Radio New Zealand.
Normally I’m not a big fan – if I wanted to listen to uninformed opinion I’d tune into talkback radio – but I heard an interview with a Wellington rugby player, Alice Soper, and I noticed a malapropism. She said “…and that’s all just tantamount as well to the environment that (they) had put in place…” when the word she wanted was of course testament.
I’m guessing this was just a mistake on her part, not a normal word usage for her or anyone she knows. I get more annoyed when they become commonplace, for example “for all intensive purposes” instead of all intents and purposes. Apparently more people now think the correct phrase is “you’ve got another thing coming” instead of “you’ve got another think coming” which to me is horrifying. Similarly, disinterested is rapidly edging out the more (historically) correct uninterested. This amazes me – I can remember an exam question on this when I was at school. Granted, that was last century – but still…
The trouble is, English is a living language, meaning it changes over time. Sometimes this is in cool ways like adding in words from other languages, or made up words – but we just have to accept sometimes it just comes from mistakes that become persistent. A grammar nazi can only hold the tide back so much.
The real problem, actually, is that noticing this language slip up distracted me from paying attention to the speaker’s articulate, well informed, well thought out, reasonable interview on a subject she was obviously passionate about – the ongoing development of women’s rugby in New Zealand. And that is my fault, not hers.