However, at <http://www.takeourword.com/Issue048.html>, Agatha Christie is credited with first use of "wreaked havoc" in 1923
This is highly unlikely. The OED (wh. I would take to be the court of final appeal in such matters, at least up to the date of its pubn.) treats wrought not as the pp. of work, but as an entirely separate word with a number of very specific meanings roughly synonymous to "fashioned" or "detailed." It is quite clear from these that havoc is not, and never was, among those things that can be wrought; and therefore "wreaked" must be as old as "wreak" itself. There is no entry for "wreaked" in the OED because the OED does not provide entries for regular inflections.
I do however agree, as to both wrought and wrecked havoc, that usage trumps all, and that if enough people make a mistake, it is not a mistake any more.
So much for "callused." Andrew Stiller Kallisti Music Press http://home.netcom.com/~kallisti/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
