I mean "scapegoat" is a shortening of "escape goat" so probably at some point in history there were grammar pedants complaining about kids these days saying scapegoat instead of escape goat.
> The English scapegoat is a compound of the archaic verb scape, which means "escape," and goat
> The English scapegoat is a compound of the archaic verb scape, which means "escape," and goat