So spelled. *"Stupify" is a fairly common misspelling — e.g.:
o “Insurance agents will stupify [read ‘stupefy’] their clients with [obscure] notations.” James W. Johnson, Logic and Rhetoric 197 (1962).
o “Drugs like heroin and cocaine typically stupify [read ‘stupefy’] and immobilize the user.” Richard Morin, “New Facts and Hot Stats from the Social Sciences,” Wash. Post, 27 Mar. 1994, at C5.
Language-Change Index — “stupefy” misspelled *"stupify": Stage 1.
*Invariably inferior forms.
——————–
Quotation of the Day: “Sophisticated writers still impose the etymological task upon their readers as part of the aesthetic experience. It may be said, in fact, that etymology is one of the devices by which readers are now called upon to share in the creative act.” Margaret Schlauch, The Gift of Tongues 232 (1943; repr. 1960).
