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Is there a technical term for combination, in error, of similar or related words? This question is prompted by the following malapropism or solecism, from an article by Elizabeth Montalbano in InformationWeek:

The project also serves as a segueway into the next-generation Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), a program by NOAA that also will collect weather and climate data.

The writer presumably formed segueway by miscegenation of segue with Segway. The problem does not seem to be a simple typographical error, which "includes errors due to mechanical failure or slips of the hand or finger, but usually excludes errors of ignorance, such as spelling errors." It also seems unlikely to be a neologism. Some processes of word formation -- agglutination, back-formation, blending, etc. -- of course are in play here, but those terms don't imply error.

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    It's possible he was going for "segue", but didn't realize the "ue" part was pronounced "way". Words like vague and vogue could give someone the idea that the "ue" is silent.
    – user11550
    Commented Oct 28, 2011 at 21:58
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    is this a variety of eggcorn? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggcorn
    – nohat
    Commented Oct 28, 2011 at 23:43
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    Mahnax @FumbleFingers Isn't Elizabeth normally a women's name?
    – Hugo
    Commented Oct 29, 2011 at 6:59
  • Your "miscegenation" seemed like a pretty good coinage.
    – Michael Lorton
    Commented Sep 13, 2012 at 1:28

2 Answers 2

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Misjuxtaposition is used in these situations. It's something that exists in "common use", but not the dictionary so I don't know that that would count here.

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Malaprop?

Otherwise, I would say eggcorn.

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    While eggcorn may be appropriate, malapropism (use of an inappropriate word in place of a similar sounding one) plainly is not.
    – James Waldby - jwpat7
    Commented Jun 7, 2012 at 1:32
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    Eggcorn is exactly what you need, per jwpat
    – Richard Haven
    Commented Jul 21, 2012 at 20:52

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