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• malapropism •

Pronunciation: mæ-lê-prahp-i-zêm • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: A homophone or near homophone (word that sounds like another) of the word intended, curiously out of place in the sentence in which it occurs.

Notes: As you might expect, someone given to committing malapropisms is a malapropist because of their malapropistic (the adjective) expressions. Composer Leonard Bernstein was speaking malapropistically (the adverb) when he claimed to be suffering from a 'psychosemitic' illness.

In Play: Let us begin at the source, Mrs. Malaprop's malapropisms (see Word History): "[P]romise to forget this fellow—to illiterate him, I say, quite from your memory."
"I would have her instructed in geometry, that she might know something of the contagious countries."
Here are a few others from various fictional and nonfictional characters: "...Vito's passing, and all that that entrails." —Tony Soprano
"We cannot let terrorists and rogue nations hold this nation hostile or hold our allies hostile." —George W. Bush
"Republicans understand the importance of the bondage between a mother and child." —Dan Quayle, former US Vice President
"Marlow quickly plummeted to the top and now is at the very pineapple of his career." —Source unknown

Word History: Today's Good Word is a commonization of the surname of Mrs. Malaprop, a character in Richard Sheridan's comedy "The Rivals". Mrs. Malaprop was noted for using wrong words, but words that made sense in a humorous way. Sheridan, who was wonderful at creating funny but appropriate names, derived her name from the French phrase mal à propos "inappropriate". Mrs. Malaprop thus is the eponym of malapropism. (I would not speak mal à propos myself in saying that we owe a debt of gratitude to Daniel Cross for suggesting today's humorously Good Word.)

Really entertaining word today, Doc.

The Tete-a-tete

MM: Mrs. Malaprop
RS: Reverend Spooner

RS: Let us find a nosey little cook and talk, Madam.
MM: What?
RS: A cosey little nook, that is... Anyway, it's all a lack of pies what they say about us!
MM: A stack of pies?
RS: No! No! A pack of lies. You have twisted my words.
MM: Then I must mythologize.
RS: No need, my dear. You hissed my mystery lecture, I see.
MM: "Missed your history lecture, " I presume you mean?
RS: Quite.
MM: "Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder," it is said.
RS: If we had but time...
MM: Who levitates is lost, dearest.
RS; Ah, my pittle lumpkin!
MM: Your transpositions transpose me!

by MTC with partial credit to Rev. Spooner

MM: Are you going to the banquet at Empirical College?
RS: Yes, there will be a hawk by the toast.
MM: You mean a talk by the host? Well, it should give you some ideas for your monogram about the benefits of a literal education.
RS: Yes, at the moment I have blighter's rock. It will all be mist to the grill.
MM: Let's hope you can write something as good as your doctoral dissolution. Are you going out today?
RS: It's too wet right now. I've wrecked the chain and it's still falling heavily.
MM: I went to church yesterday, and saw the new organ in the north transit. The organist was playing exits from well-known competitions.
RS: Yes, and there was a lady sharing a wall with a lean little cad.
MM: What?
RS: I mean a lady wearing a shawl with a keen little lad. Her daughter likes to perform in public, so she put the girl in a dock and got her to France.

Standing ovation! (One clan happening.)

Greetings and hallucinations! Combining Mrs. Malprop and Mr. Spooner is a most ingenuous expression of humor.