Last time I brought this up here, someone proposed that he could have been referring to 2.33:1 as wide rather than 1.88:1 (which is the ratio the widescreen version of it is in), which could be a possibility.

That was me, and I'm pretty certain it was the case because I've heard many filmmakers refer to 2.35:1 as wide and 1.85: as otherwise. In Bob Gale's DVD commentary in reference to the aspect ratio, he mentions that 1.78:1 had been chosen as the standard TV ratio at the time (something that did not really happen until widescreen sets popped up) and that's why they shot it in 1.85.