From Oops, in Sunday’s NY Times On Language column, by Richard Lederer (filling in for vacationing William Safire):
Of the thousands of specimens of inspired gibberish that I’ve captured and put on display, my favorite is this gem from a student essay: ”Sir Francis Drake circumcised the world with a 100-foot clipper.” The statement is hysterically unhistorical, and we have no trouble believing that a student actually wrote it. How blunderful that one young scholar’s innocent confusion of ”circumnavigate” and ”circumcise” and accidental pun on ”clipper” can beget such nautical naughtiness. This creation is one of the greatest bloopers ever blooped.
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