New word aborning?

[randy_byers]

I recently ran across the word "ferverent" on the intertubes. I looked it up in the online OED, which doesn't know of it, but if you Google it, you get a 63,000 hits (along with the query of whether you meant "fervent"). From what I can tell, it means the same thing as "fervent," but perhaps with added fever. (It seems to be associated with the word "prayer" a lot, too.)

Anyway, it was a new one on me. My initial thought was that it was a typo.

Comments

[bluewoad.livejournal.com]

I think it's probably indicative of people who don't read enough. They hear it as 'ferverent' and thus write it that way, sort of like 'definate' becoming way too common (1.06 million page hits in Google).

What do they teach kids these days?

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

It's an interesting one because it isn't really a misspelling so much as it seems to roll up a bunch of words into one, including "fervent," "fever," and "fervor". One word to rule them all, one word to bind them.

[del-c.livejournal.com]

Can you get defervorant in a can, to spray on people who are getting too enthusiastic?

[mlamprey.livejournal.com]

The only prescription is more cowerbell.