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A malapropism is the substitution of one word for another, incorrect, word with a similar sound, usually to comic effect. Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 151 languages. ...

Etymology

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The word malapropos is an adjective or adverb meaning "inappropriate" or "inappropriately", derived from the French phrase mal à propos (literally "ill-suited"). It is believed to have entered English usage around 1660. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ...

The term malapropism is generally attributed to the public reaction to Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 1775 play The Rivals, and in particular the character Mrs. Malaprop. Sheridan presumably named his character Mrs. Malaprop, who frequently misspoke (to great comic effect), in joking reference to the word malapropos. The term malapropism was coined to designate this specific kind of mistake that Mrs. Malaprop frequently made. Richard Brinsley Sheridan Richard Brinsley Sheridan (October 30, 1751 – July 7, 1816) was an Irish playwright and Whig statesman. ... The Rivals, a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is a comedy of manners in five acts. ...

Distinguishing features

An instance of mis-speech is called a malapropism when:

1. The word that is used means something different from the word the speaker or writer intended to use.
2. The word that is used sounds similar to the word that was apparently meant or intended. Using obtuse (wide or dull) instead of acute (narrow or sharp) is not a malapropism; using obtuse (stupid or slow-witted) when one means abstruse (esoteric or difficult to understand) would be.
3. The word that is used has a recognized meaning in the speaker's or writer's language.

These characteristics set malapropisms apart from other speaking or writing mistakes, such as an eggcorns or spoonerisms. In linguistics, an eggcorn is an idiosyncratic substitution of a word or phrase for a word or words that sound similar or identical in the speakers dialect. ... A spoonerism is a play on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched (see metathesis). ...

Simply making up a word, or adding a redundant or ungrammatical prefix (irregardless instead of regardless) or suffix (subliminible instead of subliminal) to an existing word, does not qualify as a malapropism.

Examples

The Rivals

• "She's as headstrong as a allegory on the banks of the Nile." (i.e., alligator)
• "He is the very pineapple of politeness." (i.e., pinnacle)
• "If I reprehend any thing in this world, it is the use of my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs!" (i.e., apprehend, vernacular, arrangement, epithets)
• "Venus has a reprobate orbit." (i.e., retrograde)

For other uses, see Nile (disambiguation). ... Direct motion is the motion of a planetary body in a direction similar to that of other bodies within its system, and is sometimes called prograde motion. ...

Radio, film, and television

• Selections from a rich malapropism culture of The Sopranos: "Revenge is like serving cold cuts." "…my knight in white satin armor." "…prostate with grief." "Quasimodo predicted this" "Create a little dysentery among the ranks."

• "It were my secret to successive. Thanks to Jimmy Jenkins my ovulary size is much much not smaller than ever before" - (i.e. "success", vocabulary, and other mistakes). This comes from "The Joe Jefferson Vocabulary Builder Upper" - by Bob and Tom, a humorous recording consisting mostly of malapropisms. Parodies an infomercial for an (evidently unsuccessful) system to improve one's vocabulary.
• "I've got these two albacores around my neck" (i.e. albatross) "It's like the Rime of the Ancient Marinade..." (i.e. Mariner). - Aqua Teen Hunger Force
• "I've gotta consecrate myself on this newspaper." (i.e. concentrate). — All in the Family (Note the nonstandard use of the reflexive, illustrating a Yiddish-German influence on the dialect of New York City.) Also, "Patience is a virgin."
• "I want to be effluent mum!" "You are effluent Kimi..." (i.e. affluent) — Kath and Kim
• "What are you incinerating?..." (i.e. insinuating) — Galton and Simpson, Steptoe and Son ("Doodlebug over Shepherd's Bush")
• "I can say that without fear of contraception" (i.e. contradiction) — Hylda Baker was originally a British music hall star who used malapropisms extensively in her stage act. Best known for the TV situation comedy Nearest and Dearest where she continued the tradition.
• "Brudder, you got a preposition and that thing will give you a conclusion of the brain" are some of the countless malapropisms uttered by cartoon legend Bugs Bunny in some of his two-reelers.
• "You could have knocked me over with a fender." (i.e. feather) — Jane Ace, one of many malapropisms she used on the old-time radio comedy series, Easy Aces.
• "We heard the ocean is infatuated with sharks" (i.e. infested) - Stan Laurel in The Live Ghost.
• "What a terrible cat's after me!" (i.e. catastrophe) - Stan Laurel in Any Old Port!
• "She said honesty was the best politics" (i.e. policy) - Stan Laurel in Sons of the Desert
• "V.D. Day!" (i.e. V-E Day) — Edith Bunker (as played by Jean Stapleton), on television's All in the Family. That show's Archie Bunker character once referred to the AFL-CIO as "The UFO-CIA"
• "Where are my mannerisms?" (i.e. "manners:) - Tigger in Disney's "Winnie the Pooh"
• "Lorraine, my density has brought me to you."; "Yes! I'm George! I'm your density!" (destiny)—George McFly, Back to the Future
• "I'll hunt you and shoot you down like a duck." (dog) — Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen, Back to the Future III
• "I can't even phantom how that must feel!" (i.e. fathom) — Young girl in a television ad for T-Mobile wherein her father sat strapped into a chair while she used up her "anytime minutes."
• "I resemble that remark!" (i.e. resent) - Stooge Curly Howard, after being insulted by fellow Stooge Moe
• "Let's talk about a very tattoo subject..." (i.e. "taboo") - Various episodes of "Da Ali G Show".
• "I was given an "old tomato", leave or get thrown out..." (i.e. ultimatum)- Will and Grace
• "I'm here tonight to speak out against busting schoolchildren." (i.e "bussing schoolchildren") - Emily Litella from Saturday Night Live
• "Just sing it with no music; you know, Acapulco." (i.e. a cappella)- Suzanne Sugarbaker from Designing Women
• "Eastern and Specific Time." (i.e "Pacific") - Jillian (Brian Griffin's girlfriend) from Family Guy
• "Why aren't I allowed to say the phrase, 'for all intensive purposes?'" (i.e. for all intents and purposes) Doug Heffernan from The King of Queens
• "So guys, bring your wives on down to Furniture Factory Outbreak (i.e. "Furniture Factory Outlet"), for prices so low, they're ecological (i.e., economical)." -- uttered by the late Harlan Jordan, who, in ads for the Muldrow, Oklahoma-based Furniture Factory Outlet, almost always committed a malapropism with the word Furniture, Factory, or Outlet, such as "Furniture Flattery Outlet", "Furrier Factory Outlet", "Furniture Factory Inlet", etc.
• "If there is any justice in the world, Maris Crane and Niles Crane will soon be executed." (i.e. exonerated) - Dr Frasier Crane from Frasier
• "The ironing is delicious." (i.e. irony) - Bart Simpson, after finding Lisa in detention.^[1]
• "You're very observant: the sacred and the propane" (i.e. "profane") — Carmine Lupertazzi Jr.
• "Isn't there like a statue of limitations on that?" (i.e. Statute of Limitations); Cosmo Kramer
• "Yeah, I super-size with you." (i.e. sympathize); Frito from Idiocracy
• "Welcome to my humble chapeau!" (i.e. chateau); Belle Carroca from My Favorite Year
• "It's proper posh up at that new doctor's - they got tubercular steel furniture in the waitin' room" (i.e. tubular); Pete 'n' Eva on Radio Bristol
• "You're just a pigment of my affiliation" - Jon Douglas Dixon of Standing Hampton
• "I can't believe you don't see the oblivious!" (i.e. obvious) - Chicken in Cow and Chicken
• "So, truth has to lie prostate, which means we have to reveal it in its nakedness, even if that nakedness seems to be connected to a lack of power." Princeton Professor Cornell West confusing "prostate" with "prostrate" on September 7, 2007, Episode #517 of “Real Time with Bill Maher.”

This article is about the television series. ... The Bob & Tom Show is a radioshow established by Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold at radio station WFBQ in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1983. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Albacore (disambiguation). ... For the movie, see Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters. ... For other uses, see All in the Family (disambiguation). ... In grammar, a reflexive verb is a verb whose semantic agent and patient (typically represented syntactically by the subject and the direct object) are the same. ... Jane Turner and Gina Riley as Kath & Kim Kath and Kim is a satirical Australian television series shown on the ABC network. ... Ray Galton OBE (born 17 July 1930), and Alan Simpson OBE (born 27 November 1929), are British scriptwriters who met in 1948 at a tuberculosis sanatorium in London. ... Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about two rag and bone men living in Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherds Bush, London. ... Hylda Baker (born February 4, 1905 in Farnworth, Bolton, Lancashire; died May 1, 1986 in Epsom, Surrey) was a Northern English comedy actress. ... Music Hall is a form of British theatrical entertainment which reached its peak of popularity between 1850 and 1960. ... This article is about a genre of comedy. ... Nearest and Dearest was a British situation comedy (sit-com) set in and around a pickle factory in Colne, Lancashire, in the North West of England. ... I always say a wife should take the bitter with the better: Memorable malapropper Jane Ace (right) and her husband and co-star, Goodman, captured by CBS in a publicity photograph for their legendary radio laugh novelty, Easy Aces. ... Goodman and Jane Ace during a 1939 Easy Aces rehearsal. ... Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, writer and director, famous as part of the comedy double act Laurel and Hardy, whose career stretched from the silent films of the early 20th Century until post-World War II. // Stan Laurel... The Live Ghost is a 1934 short film starring Laurel and Hardy,directed by Charles Rogers and produced by Hal Roach. ... Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, writer and director, famous as part of the comedy double act Laurel and Hardy, whose career stretched from the silent films of the early 20th Century until post-World War II. // Stan Laurel... Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, writer and director, famous as part of the comedy double act Laurel and Hardy, whose career stretched from the silent films of the early 20th Century until post-World War II. // Stan Laurel... Sons of the Desert is a 1933 film starring Laurel & Hardy, and directed by William A. Seiter. ... Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day) was May 8, 1945, the date when the Allies during the Second World War formally celebrated the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitlers Reich. ... Jean Stapleton Jean Stapleton (born Jeanne Murray on January 19, 1923 in New York City) is an American actress of stage, television and film. ... For other uses, see All in the Family (disambiguation). ... Tigger is a fictional tiger character originally introduced in A. A. Milnes book, The House at Pooh Corner. ... Pooh redirects here. ... George Douglas McFly is a fictional lead character in the first Back to the Future motion picture, played by actor Crispin Glover, and a minor character in the 2 sequels, played by Jeffrey Weissman. ... This article is about the first film in the Back to the Future trilogy. ... Buford Mad Dog Tannen is a fictional character, born in 1846, in Back to the Future Part III — he is a town outlaw in Hill Valley, California, in the year 1885. ... Back to the Future Part III is a movie starring Michael J. Fox that opened on 25 May 1990. ... This article is about the comedy trio. ... Curly Howard (born Jerome Lester Horwitz) (October 22, 1903 – January 18, 1952), was one of the Three Stooges, along with brothers Moe Howard and Shemp Howard, and their friend Larry Fine, although Curly was more or less the breakout character. ... Moe Howard (June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975) was the leader of the Three Stooges. ... Da Ali G Show was the name of two related satirical TV series starring British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and featuring the character Ali G. The original (single season) series was made by Channel 4 in the UK, and the second (two season) series by Channel 4 in the UK... Will & Grace is an American television situation comedy focusing on Will Truman, a gay attorney and his best friend Grace Adler, a straight Jewish woman who runs her own interior design firm. ... Emily Litella, created and portrayed by the late comedienne Gilda Radner (1946-1989) Emily Litella was a fictional character played by comedian Gilda Radner (1946-1989) on Saturday Night Live (SNL), a weekly late-night 90-minute live comedy-variety show on the American NBC network. ... SNL redirects here. ... For other uses, see Acapulco (disambiguation). ... This article is about the vocal technique. ... Suzanne Sugarbaker Goff Dent Stonecipher is a character in the television series Designing Women and the sort-of spin-off series, Women of the House. ... This article is about a television show. ... Brian Griffin is a fictional character on the FOX animated television series Family Guy, and is voiced by show creator, Seth MacFarlane. ... Family Guy is an Emmy Award-winning American animated television series about a dysfunctional family in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island. ... Douglas Steven Doug Heffernan (born February 9, 1965 in Montreal) is a fictional character in the American situation comedy The King of Queens. ... The King of Queens is an Emmy nominated, American comedy series that ran for nine seasons, from 1998 until 2007. ... Muldrow is a town located in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma. ... Frasier is an American sitcom starring Kelsey Grammer as psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane. ... For the comic book series of the same name, see Bart Simpson comics. ... Lisa Marie Simpson is a character in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Yeardley Smith; Lisa is the only character Smith voices on a regular basis. ... Bart writes The Pledge of Allegiance does not end with Hail Satan The chalkboard gag is a running visual joke that occurs during the opening credits of many episodes of The Simpsons. ... Propane is a three-carbon alkane, normally a gas, but compressible to a liquid that is transportable. ... Profanity is a word choice or usage which many consider to be offensive. ... Information Gender Male Age 40s Occupation Movie Producer Title Capo of Lupertazzi Crew in the Lupertazzi Crime Family (Seasons 4-present) Family Carmine Lupertazzi (father) Violet Lupertazzi (mother) Spouse(s) Nicole Lupertazzi Children Carmine III, Alexandra Portrayed by Ray Abruzzo Created by David Chase Carmine Little Carmine Lupertazzi, Jr. ... A statute of limitations is a statute in a common law legal system that sets forth the maximum period of time, after certain events, that legal proceedings based on those events may be initiated. ... Cosmo Kramer is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998), played by Michael Richards. ... Idiocracy is a 2006 American dark comedy directed by Mike Judge, and starring Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph. ... A château ( French for castle; plural châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of gentry, usually French, with or without fortifications. ... My Favorite Year is a 1982 comedy film which tells the story of the early days of television, and a flamboyant film actor who is shepherded by a young intern through a week of overdrinking. ... Cow and Chicken is an Emmy Award-nominated American animated television series, created by David Feiss. ... Cornel Ronald West (born June 2, 1953 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is a prominent American scholar and public intellectual. ... Real Time with Bill Maher is a talk show that airs weekly on HBO, hosted by comedian and political satirist Bill Maher. ...

Popular culture

• "I might just fade into Bolivian, you know what I mean?" (i.e. oblivion) — Mike Tyson
• "I really dig Hannibal. Hannibal had real guts. He rode elephants into Cartilage." (i.e. Carthage) — Mike Tyson
• "I am not going to make a skeptical out of my boxing career." (i.e. spectacle) — Tonya Harding
• "I can shoot with my left hand, I can shoot with my right hand, I'm amphibious." (i.e. ambidextrous) — Charles Shackleford
• "Mark Lee's arms went up like two giant testicles..." (i.e., tentacles) - Jack Dyer commenting on a VFL match (Mark Lee was a former Richmond ruckman)
• "If it's any consolidation ..." (i.e. consolation) — Ken James
• "My nipple."(i.e. dimple) — Malaysian singer Siti Nurhaliza when asked what her best facial feature was.
• "However, they delineate—quotas, I think, vulcanize society." (i.e. balkanize) - George W. Bush
• "On the Day of Atonement, I cannot afford to be sick. (i.e. "a tournament") -- Sam Snead, golfer. He said this in a commercial he made for Bromo-Seltzer. According to the Book of Sports Lists by Pepe and Hollandrer, the Jewish part of his audience understood he was not referring to Yom Kippur but could not pronounce "tournament".
• "Oh, you mean the ones with those disraeli gears?" (i.e. derailleur gears) - Cream roadie Mick Turner, during a conversation between Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker about racing bicycles.^[2]

• "I made a carnal sin (i.e., cardinal), I forgot my words". — singer Brandon Rogers after being voted off American Idol on March 14, 2007.
• "But beyond crude oil, natural gas and electricity, the Nymex is also a major platform for trading futures and options contracts in all sorts of precocious metals." (i.e. precious metals)^[3]

The Republic of Bolivia is a landlocked country in central South America. ... Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is a former two-time American world heavyweight boxing champion and is the youngest man to have won a world heavyweight title. ... For other uses, see Hannibal (disambiguation). ... Charles Edward Shackleford (born April 22, 1966 in Kinston, North Carolina) is an American former professional basketball player. ... John Raymond Dyer senior (November 13, 1913 - August 23, 2003), always known as Jack Dyer, was one of the colossal figures of Australian rules football during two distinct careers, firstly as an outstanding player and coach of the Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League between 1931 and 1952... This article is about the national league in Australian rules football. ... Mark Lee is a former Australian rules football player who played in the VFL between 1977 and 1991 for the Richmond Football Club. ... This page is about the Aussie rules club. ... Siti Nurhaliza binti Tarudin (born January 11, 1979) is a multiple-award winning Malaysian pop singer-songwriter. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the forty-third and current President of the United States of America, originally inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ... Yom Kippur (יום כפור yom kippūr, day of atonement) is the Jewish holiday of the Day of Atonement. ... Samuel Jackson Sam Snead (May 27, 1912 – May 23, 2002) was an American golfer who was one of the top players in the world for most of 4 decades. ... A television advertisement or television commercial (often just commercial) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message. ... A horse drawn Bromo-Seltzer wagon. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... Yom Kippur (Hebrew:יוֹם כִּפּוּר , IPA: ), also known in English as the Day of Atonement, is the most solemn of the Jewish holidays. ... Disraeli Gears is the second album by British blues-rock group Cream. ... Derailleur gears are a variable ratio transmission system commonly used on bicycles, consisting of a chain, multiple sprockets and a mechanism to move the chain from one sprocket to another. ... Cream were a 1960s British rock band comprising guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker. ... Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE[2] (born 30 March 1945) [3], nicknamed Slowhand, is a Grammy Award-winning English rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer. ... Peter Edward Ginger Baker (born August 19, 1939, Lewisham, South London) is an English drummer who gained fame as a member of the Graham Bond Organization (GBO) and Cream from 1966 until 1968. ... is the 73rd day of the year (74th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... For the CSI episode of the same name, see Precious Metal (CSI episode). ...

Shakespeare

Malapropisms appear in many works written well before Sheridan created their namesake character; William Shakespeare used them in several of his comedies. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

Constable Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing: Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy by William Shakespeare. ...

• "...you shall comprehend all vagrom men..." (i.e. apprehend, vagrant; Act 3, Scene III)
• "Comparisons are odorous." (i.e., odious; Act 3, Scene V)
• "Our watch, sir, have indeed comprehended two auspicious persons." (i.e., apprehended, suspicious; Act 3, Scene V)

Launcelot in The Merchant of Venice: Title page of the first quarto (1600) The Merchant of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written sometime between 1596 and 1598. ...

• "Certainly [Shylock] is the very devil incarnal..." (i.e., incarnate; Act 2, Scene II)
• "That is the very defect of the matter, sir." (i.e., effect; Act 2, Scene II)

Elbow in Measure for Measure Claudio and Isabella (1850) by William Holman Hunt Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, written in 1603. ...

• "two notorious benefactors" (i.e., malefactors; Act 2, Scene I)
• "if she has been a woman cardinally given"; (i.e., carnally, Act 2, Scene I)

Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream also frequently uses malapropisms, such as: Bottom says he will "aggravate" his voice when he really means he will "moderate" it. Bottom says " Thisbe, the flowers of odious savours sweet!" He said odious which really means repulsive instead of a pleasant odour. Nick Bottom is a character in Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream who provides comic relief throughout the play, and is famously known for getting his head transformed into that of a donkey by the elusive Puck within the play. ... For other uses, see A Midsummer Nights Dream (disambiguation). ...

Fictional characters

• "Why killing's the matter! Why murder's the matter! But he can give you the perpendiculars." (i.e., particulars, from a scene in Horrible Histories)
• The infants from the show Rugrats constantly used malapropisms, e.g. As Bob is my witless.
• Sally Brown from Peanuts often used malapropisms.
• A character in Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain requests that Beethoven's Erotica (Eroica) be played at a funeral.
• In Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin: "I'm so smart it's almost scary. I guess I'm a child progeny (prodigy)." Hobbes: "Most children are."
• In the British situation comedy Nearest and Dearest, the main character Nellie Pledge often uses malapropisms such as "Then he laid prostate on the ground." (i.e., prostrate), "...sat sitting there like a big business typhoon!" (i.e., tycoon), and "I think I can quite safely say without fear of contraception..." (i.e., contradiction).
• The character of Ricky (Trailer Park Boys) uses malapropisms on a regular basis: he calls Sasquatches "Saskatchewans," and says his daughter is just going through "phrases." (i.e., phases)
• Archie Bunker's limited grasp of the English language resulted in a large number of now classic unintentional malapropisms during All In the Family's run (e.g. "vagrant disregard for the law", "the Pope is inflammable," "patience is a virgin"). (i.e., flagrant, infallible, virtue)
• In Only Fools and Horses, Del Boy played by David Jason often uses malapropisms for comic effects, such as "good to be back on the old terracotta" (i.e., "terra firma").
• In The Sopranos, the characters frequently use malapropisms. Tony Soprano, the protagonist played by James Gandolfini, has committed various malapropisms, such as referring to amour fou, French for "crazy love," as "our mofo."
• Tom Stoppard's play On the Razzle features many zany malapropisms that run symbiotic to much of the mistaken identity that occurs throughout the story.
• Rachel Price, in The Poisonwood Bible, uses several malapropisms during her narrations. They include "granite" in place of granted, and "addenda" for agenda.
• The comic strip Frank and Ernest has a recurring character named "malaprop man" who narrates the strip using malapropisms. In fact, much of this strip features malapropisms.
• "Though I am replicant to spread rumors, I am led to believe the philogy of skeletous beings makes them resistive to magic." -- Lord Rugdumph gro-Shurak, a character in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
• Sol Butcher of Sons Of Butcher often uses many malapropisms.(eg:"Beauty is only deep skin, it's what beside her that counts." "When death comes, I'll welcome it with open legs.")
• The character Minako Aino/Sailor Venus from Sailor Moon often accidentally uses malapropisms when using figures of speech, in both the original Japanese version and in the English dub. (eg: She said "No use crying over spilled milk" as "Don't worry about Fish eggs from before" in the original. It was changed into "No use crying over ruined silk" in the English dub)^[4]
• In Richard Russo's novel Straight Man, landlord Charles Purty's habitually (and hilariously) utters malapropisms throughout.
• Karen Walker of NBC's Will & Grace: "Come on. When was the last time you and I took off to Bermuda on the sperm (spur) of the moment? Let's go!"
• Buffy Summers often mangled the names of demons on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the episode "Faith, Hope & Trick," she manages to refer to vampire Kakistos as "kissing toast" and "taquitos." Near the end of the Angelus arc in season two, she referred to Acathla as "Alfalfa" and "Al Franken."

Horrible Histories is a series of illustrated books published in the United Kingdom and now from 2007 officially in India by Scholastic. ... A rugrat may also be a pejorative term for a toddler. ... Sally Brown is the younger sister of Charlie Brown in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles Schulz. ... For other uses, see Peanut (disambiguation). ... For other persons named Thomas Mann, see Thomas Mann (disambiguation). ... “Magic Mountain” redirects here. ... Eroica Symphony Title Page The Symphony No. ... Listen to this article (3 parts) (info) Part 1 â€¢ Part 2 â€¢ Part 3 This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2006-01-29, and may not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Nearest and Dearest was a British situation comedy (sit-com) set in and around a pickle factory in Colne, Lancashire, in the North West of England. ... Cyclone Catarina, a rare South Atlantic tropical cyclone viewed from the International Space Station on March 26, 2004. ... A business magnate, sometimes referred to as a mogul, tycoon, or industrialist is a person who controls a large portion of a particular industry and whose wealth derives primarily from this control. ... Birth control is the practice of preventing or reducing the probability of pregnancy without abstaining from sexual intercourse; the term is also sometimes used to include abortion, the ending of an unwanted pregnancy, or abstinence. ... Broadly speaking, a contradiction is an incompatibility between two or more statements, ideas, or actions. ... This article is about the television series. ... Sasquatch can refer to different topics: A Sasquatch is another name for Bigfoot. ... For other uses, see Saskatchewan (disambiguation). ... Archibald Archie Bunker was a fictional character in the long-running and top-rated American television sitcom All in the Family and its spin-off Archie Bunkers Place. ... For other uses, see All in the Family (disambiguation). ... Only Fools and Horses is a British television sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan, and made and broadcast by the BBC. Seven series were originally broadcast in the UK between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003. ... Derek Edward Trotter (born July 12, 1948 in Deptford),[1] more commonly known as Del Boy, is the fictional lead character in the popular BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. ... Sir David John White, OBE known by his stage name David Jason (born 2 February 1940) is a highly regarded English actor, admired equally for his dramatic work as for his comedy roles. ... Terra cotta is a hard semifired waterproof ceramic clay used in pottery and building construction. ... This article is about the television series. ... Anthony John Soprano, Sr. ... James R. Gandolfini (born September 18, 1961) is a three-time Emmy award winning American actor known for multifaceted portrayals of conscientious yet often inherently sinister characters. ... Amour (French: Love) is a song by the German band Rammstein from their album Reise, Reise. ... // Motherfucker (also existing in contracted forms e. ... Sir Tom Stoppard, OM, CBE (born as Tomáš Straussler on July 3, 1937)[1] is an Academy Award winning British playwright of more than 24 plays. ... On the Razzle is Tom Stoppards take on a Viennese play by Johann Nestroy, called Einen Jux will er sich machen (roughly, He Will Have His Way). ... The Poisonwood Bible is a 1998 novel by Barbara Kingsolver, which details a missionary familys life in the Congo beginning in the 1960s as experienced by the five women in the family. ... The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a game currently under development by Bethesda Softworks for the PC, Xbox 2, and Playstation 3. ... Sons of Butcher is a cartoon based on the band of the same name, airing weeknights at 9:30 p. ... Minako Aino , or Mina in the English versions) is one of the central characters in the Sailor Moon metaseries. ... For the title character, see Sailor Moon (character) and for the first story arc, see Dark Kingdom arc. ... Richard Russo (born July 15, 1949) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist. ... Karen Delaney St. ... This article is about the television network. ... Will & Grace is a popular American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from 1998 to 2006. ... Buffy Anne Summers is the eponymous fictional character in the film Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the television program of the same name and its numerous spin-offs, such as novels, comic books, and video games. ... Faith, Hope & Trick is the third episode of season 3 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ... Kakistos was a master vampire on Buffy the Vampire Slayer during season three. ... This article is about the Buffy the Vampire Slayer character. ...

Real life

• It was reported in New Scientist that an office worker described a colleague as "a vast suppository of information". (i.e., "repository")
• New Scientist also reported the first-ever malapropism for "malapropism", when, having become aware of his error, the office worker apologised, saying he had committed a "Miss Marple-ism."^[5]
• Time reported Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern as warning his country against "upsetting the apple tart" (ie., "apple cart") of his country's economic success.^[6]
• Alanis Morissette unintentionally misused the term 'malapropism' when she commented on her unintentional misuse of the term 'ironic' within her song "Ironic".
• A contestant on ego trip's Miss Rap Supreme claimed that "alcohol, as they say, helps you let down your prohibitions." (i.e., "inhibitions)

New Scientist is a weekly international science magazine covering recent developments in science and technology for a general English-speaking audience. ... Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple Jane Marple, usually known as Miss Marple, is a fictional character appearing in twelve of Agatha Christies crime novels. ... TIME redirects here. ... The Taoiseach (IPA: , phonetic: TEE-shock — plural: Taoisigh ( or ), also referred to as An Taoiseach [1], is the head of government or prime minister of the Republic of Ireland . ... Patrick Bartholomew Bertie Ahern (Irish: Pádraig Parthalán Ó hEachthairn, born 12 September 1951) is an Irish politician who served as the Taoiseach of Ireland from 26 June 1997 to 7 May 2008. ... Alanis redirects here. ... Alanis Morissette European singles chronology Ironic is a song written by Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard, and produced by Ballard for Morissettes third album Jagged Little Pill (1995). ... Prohibition redirects here. ...

Philosophical significance

In the essay "A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs", philosopher Donald Davidson argues that malapropisms demonstrate that competence in a language is not a matter of applying rigid rules to the decoding of utterances. Rather, says Davidson, it appears that in interpreting others, people constantly modify their own understanding of our language.^[7] There are two Donald Davidsons: Donald Davidson (poet) Donald Davidson (philosopher) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

See also

• Bushism
• Colemanballs
• Engrish
• Freudian slip
• Mondegreen
• Yogiism

George W. Bush. ... Colemanballs is a term coined by Private Eye magazine to describe gaffes perpetrated by (usually British) sports commentators. ... An example of Engrish on a sign in Sasebo, Japan. ... Freudian Slip A Freudian slip, or parapraxis, is an error in speech, memory or physical action that is believed to be caused by the unconscious mind. ... A mondegreen is the mishearing (usually accidental) of a phrase as a homophone or near-homophone in such a way that it acquires a new meaning. ... A Yogiism is an amusing speech error or paradox of a kind associated with Yogi Berra, a Hall-of-Fame baseball player for the New York Yankees. ...

References