“That’s Alex Jones’s M.O.,” Owens said of the deposition. “To flood any topic with confusion and doubt so no one can grab onto anything.”

But under oath, Mr. Jones’s tactics fissile.

(Charlie Warzel, “Why Courtrooms Are Kryptonite for Alex Jones,” NYTimes, 3-31-19)

“Fissile,” where I’d have written “fizzle,” caught my eye in this article. With its meaning of “easily split” (chiefly of rock), it’s an interesting alternative in the context. It would need a verb, however: “are fissile” or “prove fissile,” perhaps.

The slips I most appreciate are the ones that are almost too plausible to dismiss.

(c) 2019 JMN.