I agree with Ted regarding the usage of "misspeak."
We have a lot of nuanced ways to say that a person is lying, but fewer ways of conveying that the person speaking is simply mistaken or deluded. If no simpler term is found, you might try some variation of one of these phrases:
perpetuating a myth
spreading an urban legend
disseminating a falsehood
expressing a delusion
promulgating an unexamined (or erroneous) belief
There would be some utility for me in such a term since I've had many occasions to use more awkward phrases myself.
"I have finally come to understand that most people who reject [the theory of] evolution do so not because they are particularly stupid or because they are lying, but because what they *know* about the subject amounts to little more than barbershop gossip."
Last edited by TheFallibleFiend; 03/23/06 04:01 PM.
