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Sheridan’s 18th century play, The Rivals, featured a hilarious character called Mrs Malaprop, who was apt to drop a verbal clanger whenever she opened her mouth. That’s where we get the word malapropism from, though its real origin is in the French phrase mal à propos, meaning inopportune or not to the purpose.
When someone uses a malapropism, it’s because:
- they’ve used a word that was not what they intended, given the context
- the word used sounds similar to the one intended
- the word used actually means something different (in other words, it’s not a made up word)
Malapropisms are often the same part of speech, begin or end in the same way or have the same rhythm when spoken.
Here are a few malapropisms. Feel free to add a few of your own in the comments thread.
From The Rivals
- “He’s as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile.” (alligator)
- “He is the very pineapple of politeness.” (pinnacle)
- “I am sorry to say, Sir Anthony, that my affluence over my niece is very small.” (influence)
- “I thought she had persisted from corresponding with him;” (desisted)
- “Make no delusions to the past.” (allusions)
From The Other Pages
- Damp weather is very hard on the sciences. (sinuses)
- Having one wife is called monotony. (monogamy)
- A rolling stone gathers no moths. (moss)
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The Sopranos had a lot of great malapropisms too.
Here’s a cute one. “In spring, the salmon swim upstream to spoon.” (spawn)
I’m rather fond of Goldwynisms myself.
If you’re giving grammar lessons, you might want to learn some yourself. You should know that ‘they’ refers to MORE THAN ONE PERSON, and the correct statement above should read “he’s used a word that was not what they intended, given the context,” rather than “they’ve.” Spare us.
Whoops, I mean “he’s used a word that was not what HE intended, given the context.”
You’ve just made too many mistakes to correct them all in one sitting, I suppose.
Jon, as much as I don’t like it, “they” has become the “pc” nongender identifier over the last few years. Personally “they” rubs me the wrong way. But I’d never be rude enough to post what you did here; rather, perhaps a private email may have been the proper route to take.
I do find it strange how people get so aggressive when posting comments online – especially about grammar
Jon, ‘they’ has always been used for the 3rd person singular when the sex of the person referred to is unknown – Though it may be used more in these pc times, I’m pretty sure I remember my Latin teacher suggesting it came from that language, so hardly a modern phenomena!
This is a really great site, which provides clear explanations of some complex grammar issues for free. Jon, you should really check your facts before posting confrontational comments!
“This is a really great site, which provides clear explanations of some complex grammar issues for free.”
should be:
“This is a really great site that provides clear explanations of some complex grammar issues for free.”
Karl,
The first sentence uses a non-essential clause, the second an essential clause. Both are grammatically correct but the emphasis does change slightly.
I possibly prefer your revision but you can’t state which is wrong or right as I’m stating an opinion, so the importance of the sub clause to the first part of the sentence is really up to me.
Anyway, it really isn’t worth worrying about…
‘[P]eople are confused about which and that… This isn’t surprising, as there has been a shift in usage over the past century or so and older guides give different advice from newer ones… If you wish to write naturally, don’t fuss too much about the usage of that versus which. Obsessive correction (sarcastically called a which hunt) is best avoided’ (http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/which.htm)