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Word for the Weekend

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Castle Gate Press Word for the Weekend

malapropism [mal-uh’-prohp-iz-uhm’]

NOUN

from the French mal a propos, which means inappropriate

The mistake of confusing words that sound similar, especially when it creates a humorous statement. 

working in tantrum instead of working in tandem

From Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” in Act lll Scene 5: “Our watch, sir, have indeed comprehended two auspicious persons,” where Constable Dogberry should have used apprehended and suspicious.

Give it a try. What malapropisms can you come up with?

Comments

  1. Here’s something I’ve been puttering with lately:

    Dan leaned over the cubicle wall right at five o’clock. “My performance this quarter has been ingenuous.”

    Matt looked up from packing his laptop. “Really?”

    “Yes!” He brought up his phone, showrooming a Salesforce graph. “My team’s made inroads into a slew of new sales leads.”

    “Great.” Matt hefted his bag over his shoulder, waiting for the joke. Finally he prompted: “And you’d describe that as ‘ingenuous?'”

    “Absolutely. Here, I’ll show you.” Dan tapped on his phone, then held it up again Vanna White style. “I’ve got this Word of the Day app. But I figure, why stop there? I just program it to automatically insert the latest word somewhere in my report, in the appropriate place. You know, your adjectives, verbs, nouns.”

    “That’s ….”

    “Ingenuous, I know. Just got that one added to the old vocabulary today.”

    “Or ingenius,” Matt muttered.

    And how could list Shakespeare as an example without also citing Sheridan’s The Rivals/em> , the very source of the word “malapropism?” Mrs. Malaprop was a fount of wisdom: “Sure, if I reprehend any thing in this world it is the use of my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs!”

  2. Ah, yes, Mrs. Malaprop. So many good examples to choose from. :O) Shakespeare was such a genius with words.

    Thank you for sharing the wonderful example from your writing, Michelle. It gave me a giggle.