The Downside of Downfall

For at least the past half dozen years or so, I’ve noticed in my students’ writing a prevalent confusion between the terms downfall and downside, as in “The downfall of this game is the cost,” when it should be “The downside of this game is the cost.” Downfall means a cause of decline or ruin. Downside means a negative quality or aspect. I’ve even found this misuse at an online paper mill that boasts it “offer[s] reasonable prices and deliver[s] top quality papers,” and then posts an example of one of these “top quality papers” that includes the sentences “One downfall of gambling, for instance, the sale of lottery games to minors is illegal in every state; yet, by all measures, there sales are commonplace” (could we also clean up the syntax and spelling in this “top quality paper”?) and “Also growing evidence reveals another downfall.” But this error is growing beyond student papers. In an article in the online journal Cash, Money, Life!, you can find the sentence “There are several downfalls to escrow accounts.” There are obviously more common confusions I see (“everyday” and “every day” come to mind, or “its” and “it’s”), but I’m curious about the source of the confusion of “downfall” and “downside” (I understand the confusion of “everyday” and “every day” or “its” and “it’s”). I don’t recall ever seeing the confusing going the other way: “Hamlet’s indecisiveness was the cause of his downside.” No, it always seems to go downfall instead of downside. Perhaps it’s just that the term “downfall” appears more often in our culture, being the name or title of a ska and punk band, a metal band, a funk metal band, a cover band, a board game, an online game, a game show, and one recent (very good) film, and thus is just more familiar. (There are no “Downside” bands, games, or films.) Or it might just be another inexplicable tic in current usage.