Hacker News Reader

At least that misunderstanding didn’t cause a nuclear accident: https://practical.engineering/blog/2025/4/15/when-kitty-litt...

Luckily these strayed goats weren't irradiated

There's a name for this sort of phenomenon...

https://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/242/escape-goat/

> one of two goats that was chosen by lot to be sent alive into the wilderness, the sins of the people having been symbolically laid upon it, while the other was appointed to be sacrificed

Let me get this straight: in the Bible, the scapegoat does survive, while the "pure" goat that did nothing wrong gets killed? That's... messed up, even for a tribal rite.

Etymologically speaking, "scapegoat" does mean "escaped goat" so it's not a crazy mistake to make.