Limelight

Limelight is: A very intense light used in pre-electric theaters created by a controlled heating of the mineral lime until it glows.

Limelight isn't: A word that has anything to do with burying plague victims.

As an example: A "professor" who does not do his etymological research but know's that lime's extreme alkalinity can be used to disinfect and help the decomposition of bodies might make up a story about plague victims wandering among corpses being the center of a crowd's attention and conflate this supposition with the actual use of limelight in theaters to cast spotlights.

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