https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=58724 Language Log * Home * About * Comments policy "Quid pro crow" May 16, 2023 @ 8:42 am * Filed by Mark Liberman under Psychology of language << previous post | next post >> In Maria Bartiromo's recent interview with James Comer (R-KY), there's an interesting speech error -- "quid pro crow" for "quid pro quo": This being Language Log rather than Making Fun Of Politicians Log, I'm going to start by assuming that this was a slip of the tongue rather than an inadequate command of legal Latin -- specifically, a speech error involving perseveration of the consonant+/r/ onset cluster from "pro" to "quo": Your browser does not support the audio element. It's possible that there was some Freudian priming of the slip, based on reverberations of Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Stern's clever 4/13/ 2023 Slate title "Quid Pro Crow", about the relationship of Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow. But in any case, once attention is drawn to this phrase, it has some phonetic properties worth highlighting. To start with, it's a nice example of pre-boundary lengthening -- crow is more than twice as long as pro: [ComerQuidProCrow1] Another phonetic point is this phrase's illustration of why minimum and maximum values of fundamental frequency are (always) artifacts, or at least profoundly uninteresting numbers. Even after careful instructions to Praat to choose minimum and maximum f0 estimation values suitable for Comer's voice in this interview, the minimum and maximum values in this phrase represent scattered points caused by (imperceptible) interactions between laryngeal oscillation and vocal tract closures: [ComerQuidProCrow2] And a histogram of F0 estimates also suggests why the mean value is generally not a great summary statistic: [ComerCrowF0_1] Then there's the whole question of how to characterize the phrase's intonational pattern -- but that's a topic for another time. May 16, 2023 @ 8:42 am * Filed by Mark Liberman under Psychology of language Permalink --------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 Comments >> 1. Eric said, May 16, 2023 @ 10:20 am CAW CAW CAW! 2. cameron said, May 16, 2023 @ 1:16 pm in a perfect world, he'd have said "squid pro crow" 3. Michael said, May 16, 2023 @ 1:41 pm I find it virtually impossible to say "quid pro quo" without slowing, even pausing for a second or two, before saying "quo." "Quid pro crow," or worse "Crid pro crow," flow out much more naturally. 4. Seth said, May 16, 2023 @ 2:09 pm @cameron "squid roe crow" ? "squid doe crow" ? 5. Benjamin E. Orsatti said, May 17, 2023 @ 7:31 am Now, I'm no rocket surgeon, but isn't the phenomenon perfectly explainable by the previous word's [ASPIRATED CONSONANT->LIQUID-> VOWEL] structure "imprinting" on the succeeding word's [ASPIRATED CONSONANT->"W"->VOWEL] structure? -- I went looking for a parapraxis, but only found one of em. 6. MarkB said, May 17, 2023 @ 2:25 pm 'It's possible that there was some Freudian priming of the slip, based on reverberations of Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Stern's clever 4/13/2023 Slate title "Quid Pro Crow" ' Because Comer is expected to read La Dahlia? I doubt reverberations from Slate reach Comer in his lifetime. Of course, in an echo chamber one might think so. 7. Quid Pro Crow - Cyber Geeks Global said, May 18, 2023 @ 3:01 pm [...] Comments...Read More [...] RSS feed for comments on this post * TrackBack URI Leave a Comment [ ] Name (required) [ ] E-mail (required, never displayed) [ ] URI [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [Submit Comment] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] D[ ] * Follow us on Twitter * [ ] [Search] Archives [+/-] * + May 2023 + April 2023 + March 2023 + February 2023 + January 2023 + December 2022 + November 2022 + October 2022 + September 2022 + August 2022 + July 2022 + June 2022 + May 2022 + April 2022 + March 2022 + February 2022 + January 2022 + December 2021 + November 2021 + October 2021 + September 2021 + August 2021 + July 2021 + June 2021 + May 2021 + April 2021 + March 2021 + February 2021 + January 2021 + December 2020 + November 2020 + October 2020 + September 2020 + August 2020 + July 2020 + June 2020 + May 2020 + April 2020 + March 2020 + February 2020 + January 2020 + December 2019 + November 2019 + October 2019 + September 2019 + August 2019 + July 2019 + June 2019 + May 2019 + April 2019 + March 2019 + February 2019 + January 2019 + December 2018 + November 2018 + October 2018 + September 2018 + August 2018 + July 2018 + June 2018 + May 2018 + April 2018 + March 2018 + February 2018 + January 2018 + December 2017 + November 2017 + October 2017 + September 2017 + August 2017 + July 2017 + June 2017 + May 2017 + April 2017 + March 2017 + February 2017 + January 2017 + December 2016 + November 2016 + October 2016 + September 2016 + August 2016 + July 2016 + June 2016 + May 2016 + April 2016 + March 2016 + February 2016 + January 2016 + December 2015 + November 2015 + October 2015 + September 2015 + August 2015 + July 2015 + June 2015 + May 2015 + April 2015 + March 2015 + February 2015 + January 2015 + December 2014 + November 2014 + October 2014 + September 2014 + August 2014 + July 2014 + June 2014 + May 2014 + April 2014 + March 2014 + February 2014 + January 2014 + December 2013 + November 2013 + October 2013 + September 2013 + August 2013 + July 2013 + June 2013 + May 2013 + April 2013 + March 2013 + February 2013 + January 2013 + December 2012 + November 2012 + October 2012 + September 2012 + August 2012 + July 2012 + June 2012 + May 2012 + April 2012 + March 2012 + February 2012 + January 2012 + December 2011 + November 2011 + October 2011 + September 2011 + August 2011 + July 2011 + June 2011 + May 2011 + April 2011 + March 2011 + February 2011 + January 2011 + December 2010 + November 2010 + October 2010 + September 2010 + August 2010 + July 2010 + June 2010 + May 2010 + April 2010 + March 2010 + February 2010 + January 2010 + December 2009 + November 2009 + October 2009 + September 2009 + August 2009 + July 2009 + June 2009 + May 2009 + April 2009 + March 2009 + February 2009 + January 2009 + December 2008 + November 2008 + October 2008 + September 2008 + August 2008 + July 2008 + June 2008 + May 2008 + April 2008 * [Posts before 4/8/2008 are here] [Search old posts here] Blogroll [+/-] * + "Spoken language expert's exuberant life of science" + ...And read all over + A Linguist Goes to Law School + A Roguish Chrestomathy + A Walk in the WoRds + A Way With Words + Abecedaria + Alex's phonetic thoughts + All Things Linguistic + Anggarrgoon + Archival Sounds (British Library) + Arrant Pedantry + Ask the League of Nerds + Babel's Dawn (Edmund Blair Bolles) + Bad Language + BadLinguistics (Pauline Foster) + Between the Lines with Edwin Battistella + Blogamundo + Bradshaw of the Future + Bremer sprachblog + Building Rapport + Bulbulovo + Career Linguist + Child's Play + Citizen sociolinguistics + clinicallinguistics + Coby Lubliner's Blog + Cognition And Language Lab + Colorless Green Ideas + Conjugate Visits + DCblog (David Crystal) + Degelka af soomaaliga + Descriptively Adequate + dialect blog + Dictionary Evangelist + Dictionary Society of North America + Double-Tongued Dictionary + Ed Absurdum + Eggcorn Database + Endangered Languages and Cultures + English, Jack + Epea Pteroenta + Eternally Stressed Semanticist + Everything You Know About English Is Wrong + Evolving English + Far Outliers + Found in Translation + Freemorpheme + Fritinancy + Fully (sic) + Good Reason + Gordon P. 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