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    Mr. Misconstrue

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    Topic

    Mr. Misconstrue

    Comment
    "If I might take a small point of personal privilege I want to be absolutely clear that I think BP is responsible for this accident, should be held responsible and should in every way do everything possible to make good on the consequences that have resulted from this accident. And if anything I said this morning has been misconstrued to the opposite effect I want to apologize for that misconstrued misconstruction."

    Thanks Mr. Barton! A U.S. Rep said the above this week during a hearing.

    I guess he was misconstruing misconstruction? Either way, it was a little bungle.

    When I listened to what he said, I think he was looking for a way to make "misconstrue" into a noun. I thought to myself, oh he means, "misconstruance", which is googleable, but I can't find it in a dictionary.

    Then *turnsred*, I realized that I was using a non-word?

    Chase: Can misconstrue be made into a noun?
    Authoropine (680211) 19 Jun 10, 05:30
    Comment
    Actually, the noun construe does already exist, so there is no need to make it up.
    http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/construe

    Also, there is an existing noun construal. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/con...

    Using the mis-prefix, you may now construe whatever you feel is needed for a misconstruing, and so forth
    #1AuthorEZMn19 Jun 10, 05:54
    Comment
    No, Mr. Barton, having said something that didn't go down well politically, was explaining his retraction it in a deliberately confusing and ridiculous way to give the impression that his critics had misunderstood and to make further discussion appear to be quibbling about the way he had expressed himself.

    Unfortunately, he couldn't say that clearly because he had actually expressed himself with admirable clarity; so he chose the word "misconstruction", effectively implying that he had misconstructed his statements in a way that could be (and was) misunderstood.

    I imagine that is standard operating procedure when you don't have the backing of your colleagues (regardless of the merit of what you said).

    #2AuthorMikeE (236602) 19 Jun 10, 09:39
    Comment
    I would have never thought of looking for this, weren't it for EZMn:

    http://www.thefreedictionary.com/misconstrual

    That was a great breakdown, EZMn, and I didn't know "construe" and "construal" were nouns. *admitshumbly*. (Okay, I've heard of construal.)

    MikeE, Hmmm. I think he truly messed it up. Have you heard the sound clip? His whole speech/questioning was off. That's why I was a bit ashamed. It was a bumble, botch, and blunder for AE. I do see your point though, and it was well-written.
    #3Authoropine (680211) 19 Jun 10, 13:59
     
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