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Culled from a local daily yesterday, the passage; ‘Kenya is looking to add more than Sh300 billion to its bludgeoning loan portfolio from China’ best describes malapropism. This is the mistaken use of a word that sounds like the appropriate one, often with a light touch.
In this case, the writer should have used the word, burgeoning (growing or mushrooming), instead of bludgeoning. Bludgeon (noun), is a club. When used as a verb, it means to batter. Indeed, the first Chinese loan threatens to batter Kenyans. Its repayment will drive them into penury.
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