Conflation is the merging of two or more sets of information, texts, ideas, opinions, etc., into one, often in error. Conflation is often misunderstood. It originally meant to fuse or blend, but has since come to mean the same as equate, treating two similar but disparate concepts as the same.

Merriam Webster Merriam-Webster, Inc. is an American company that publishes reference books and is especially known for its dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary publisher in the United States. In 1831, George and Charles Merriam founded the company as ...

suggest this happened relatively recently, entering their dictionary in 1973. In

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from prem ...

, it is the practice of treating two distinct

concept Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs. They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by ...

s as if they were one, which produces errors or misunderstandings as a fusion of distinct subjects tends to obscure analysis of relationships which are emphasized by contrasts. However, if the distinctions between the two concepts may appear to be superficial, intentional conflation can be desirable for the sake of conciseness and recall.

Communication and reasoning

The result of conflating concepts may give rise to

fallacies A fallacy is the use of invalid or otherwise faulty reasoning, or "wrong moves," in the construction of an argument which may appear stronger than it really is if the fallacy is not spotted. The term in the Western intellectual tradition was intr ...

and

ambiguity Ambiguity is the type of meaning in which a phrase, statement or resolution is not explicitly defined, making several interpretations plausible. A common aspect of ambiguity is uncertainty. It is thus an attribute of any idea or statement ...

, including the

fallacy of four terms The fallacy of four terms ( la, quaternio terminorum) is the formal fallacy that occurs when a syllogism has four (or more) terms rather than the requisite three, rendering it invalid. Definition Categorical syllogisms always have three terms ...

in a categorical

syllogism A syllogism ( grc-gre, συλλογισμός, ''syllogismos'', 'conclusion, inference') is a kind of logical argument that applies deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion based on two propositions that are asserted or assumed to be tru ...

. For example, the word "bat" has at least two distinct meanings: a

flying animal A number of animals are capable of aerial locomotion, either by powered flight or by gliding. This trait has appeared by evolution many times, without any single common ancestor. Flight has evolved at least four times in separate animals: insec ...

, and a piece of sporting equipment (such as a

baseball bat A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the sport of baseball to hit the ball after it is thrown by the pitcher. By regulation it may be no more than in diameter at the thickest part and no more than in length. Although histor ...

cricket bat A cricket bat is a specialised piece of equipment used by batters in the sport of cricket to hit the ball, typically consisting of a cane handle attached to a flat-fronted willow-wood blade. It may also be used by a batter who is making groun ...

). If these meanings are not distinguished, the result may be the following categorical

, which may be seen as a joke (

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

): :#All bats are animals. :#Some wooden objects are bats. :#Therefore, some wooden objects are animals.

Logical conflation

Using words with different meanings can help clarify, or can cause real confusion. English words with multiple (verb) meanings can be illustrated by instances in which a motion is merged with or a causation with manner, e.g. ''the bride floated towards her future.'' In this example, the bride may be married on a boat, airplane, or hot-air balloon, etc. She could be walking the aisle towards matrimony. The verb "float" has multiple meanings, and both verb meanings in the example may be proper uses of a bride "floating" toward a future. The "manner" of the scene, described by further context, would explain the true meaning of the sentence. In an alternate illustrative example, ''respect'' is used both in the sense of recognizing a right and having high regard for someone or something. We can ''respect someone's right'' to an opinion without ''holding this idea in high regard''. But conflation of these two different concepts leads to the notion that all ideological ideas should be treated with respect, rather than just the right to hold these ideas. Conflation in logical terms is very similar to

equivocation In logic, equivocation ("calling two different things by the same name") is an informal fallacy resulting from the use of a particular word/expression in multiple senses within an argument. It is a type of ambiguity that stems from a phrase havin ...

. Deliberate ''

idiom An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. Categorized as formulaic language ...

conflation'' is the amalgamation of two different expressions. In most cases, the combination results in a new expression that makes little sense literally, but clearly expresses an idea because it references well-known idioms.

Types

All conflations fit into one of two major categories: "congruent" conflations and "incongruent" conflations.

Congruent conflations

Congruent conflations are the more ideal examples of the concept. These occur when the two root expressions reflect similar thoughts. For example, "look who's calling the kettle black" can be formed using the root expressions "look who's talking" and "

the pot calling the kettle black "The pot calling the kettle black" is a proverbial idiom that may be of Spanish origin, of which English versions began to appear in the first half of the 17th century. It means a situation in which somebody accuses someone else of a fault which ...

". These root expressions really mean the same thing: they are both a friendly way to point out

hypocritical Hypocrisy is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another or the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform. In moral psychology, it is the ...

behavior. Of course, "look who's calling the kettle black" does not directly imply anything, yet the implication is understood because the conflation clearly refers to two known

idioms An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. Categorized as formulaic language, ...

Incongruent conflations

Incongruent conflation occurs when the root expressions do not mean the same thing, but share a common word or theme. For example, "a bull in a candy store" can be formed from the root expressions "a bull in a China shop" and "a kid in a candy store". The latter expression paints a picture of someone ("a kid") who is extraordinarily happy and excited, whereas the former brings to mind the image of a person ("a bull") who is extremely clumsy, indelicate, not suited to a certain environment, prone to act recklessly, or easily provoked. The conflation expresses both of these ideas at the same time. Without context, the speaker's intention is not entirely clear.

Humorous conflations

Idiom conflation has been used as a source of

humor Humour (Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in ...

in certain situations. For example, the Mexican character El Chapulín Colorado once said :"''Mas vale pájaro en mano que Dios lo ayudará...no, no...Dios ayuda al que vuela como pájaro...no... bueno, la idea es esa.''" meaning :"A bird in the hand will get the worm...no, wait...The early bird is worth two in the bush...no... well, that's the idea." by combining two popular expressions: *"''Más vale pájaro en mano que cientos volando''" ("A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.") *"''Al que madruga Dios lo ayuda''" ("The early bird gets the worm.") This was typical of the character, and he did it with several other expressions over the course of his comedy routine. In popular culture, identities are sometimes intentionally conflated. In the early 2000s, the popular American actors

Ben Affleck Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup. Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS education ...

and

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series '' In Living Color'', where she re ...

were dating, and the

tabloid Tabloid may refer to: * Tabloid journalism, a type of journalism * Tabloid (newspaper format), a newspaper with compact page size ** Chinese tabloid * Tabloid (paper size), a North American paper size * Sopwith Tabloid The Sopwith Tabloid an ...

press referred to them playfully as a third entity,

Bennifer Bennifer is a name given by the media to the high-profile relationship between American actor and filmmaker Ben Affleck and Latin entertainer Jennifer Lopez. The pair had a widely publicized 18-month romance from 2002 to 2004, and were engaged t ...

Taxonomic conflation

In taxonomies, a conflative term is always a

polyseme Polysemy ( or ; ) is the capacity for a sign (e.g. a symbol, a morpheme, a word, or a phrase) to have multiple related meanings. For example, a word can have several word senses. Polysemy is distinct from ''monosemy'', where a word has a single ...

Notes

References

* Alexiadou, Artemus. (2002)
''Theoretical Approaches to Universals.''
Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
OCLC 49386229
* Haught, John F. (1995)
''Science and Religion: From Conflict to Conversation.''
New York: Paulist Press.
OCLC 32779780
* Malone, Joseph L. (1988)
''The Science of Linguistics in the Art of Translation: Some Tools from Linguistics for the Analysis and Practice of Translation.''
Albany, New York:

State University of New York Press The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by ...

.
OCLC 15856738

External links

{{Wiktionary, conflation
Conflations
Logic Fallacies