An ever-alert reader picks up this curious sentence on the usually well written Samizdata, where Paul Marks is laying in to an Economist article (emphasis added):

Still the Economist does not let the truth stand in the way of its articles, so it then outlines its position.

"Starting from scratch their (sic) would be a good case for a mostly publicly funded system" even for a magazine "as economically liberal as this one".

This is a standard Economist trick – propose some form of statism and defend it by saying even we, the free market ones (the European meaning of "economically liberal"), are in favour of this statism. Of course the Economist never actually produces any evidence that it is pro-free market – but it is at (sic) trick it has been using since Walter Bagehot (the second editor, the first editor actually was a free market man) so I suppose it is a lie hollowed by history.

An eggcorn, a spelling mistake (for hallowed) or a deliberate but obscure pun?

Anyway, on the subject of words I like the long list of English words originating in Latin with the sense of ‘of or pertaining to’ the original noun, often an animal.

Thus bovine (cow), vulpine (fox), lupine (wolf), porcine (pig), equine (horse), canine (dog), feline (cat), piscine (fish).

Not to ignore ursine (bear), leonine (lion), serpentine (snake) and divine (god).

But not porcupine.

And to say that someone looked ovine does not necessarily mean that that person was sheepish.