In Toastmasters, one of the duties of the grammarian is to listen for Malapropisms. Invariably, the first time grammarian asks, after trying to figure out how to pronounce the word, "What is a Malapropism?"
Simply put, a malapropism is any sentence in which a word is inappropriately replaced with a similar sounding word which means something entirely different than the intended word. For example, "I resemble that remark," instead of, "I resent that remark," or, "The grammarian is excepted to catch malapropisms," instead of "The grammarian is expected to catch malapropisms."
As used today, the word malapropism comes from the 1775 play, The Rivals by Richard Sheridan. A character in the play named Mrs. Malaprop was a comedic character who was constantly using words inappropriately. Presumably Sheridan took her name from the French mal a propos which means inappropriate. The English version of this French phrase is the word malapropos.
So, the next time you are the grammarian, loosen for those malapropsims.
The best malapropisms are those that actually almost make sense. An example might be "let me tell you an antidote about a friend who was bitten by a rattle snake".
ReplyDeleteTim "the toolman" Taylor on Home Improvement was another example of someone who usually used the wrong word, but one that almost made sense, when repeating what his neighbor "Wilson" told him. Another (for those of us old enough to remember) would be "Spike" from the Bowery Boys.