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OK, I'll bite: what's wrong with the phrase wreck and ruin?


I always thought "wreck and ruin" was a malapropism.

From the Oxford American Dictionary (2005):

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PHRASES
go to rack (or wrack) and ruin gradually deteriorate in condition because of neglect: fall into disrepair. [ORIGIN: rack from Old English wræc [vengeance] ; related to wreak.]


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USAGE The relationship between the forms rack and wrack is complicated. The most common noun sense of rack, ‘a framework for holding and storing things,’ is always spelled rack, never wrack. The figurative senses of the verb, deriving from the type of torture in which someone is stretched on a rack, can, however, be spelled either rack or wrack: thus,: racked with guilt or | wracked with guilt; | rack your brains or | wrack your brains. In addition, the phrase | rack and ruin can also be spelled | wrack and ruin .