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Feb 20, 2013 This week's theme Words for linguistic errors This week's words spoonerism malapropism Freudian slip eggcorn mondegreen Discuss Feedback RSS/XML A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg Freudian slip PRONUNCIATION: (FROI-dee-uhn slip) MEANING: noun: An error that reveals someone's subconscious mind. For example, "I wish you were her" instead of "I wish you were here." ETYMOLOGY: After Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis, who proposed the idea that errors in speech, writing, etc. reveal what is in one's subconscious mind. Earliest documented use: 1959. USAGE: "The Freudian slip is invoked to explain some strange and embarrassing behavior. 'Nice to beat you,' smiles a woman when she meets the ex-girlfriend of her husband." Jena Pincott; Terrorized by the Tongue; Psychology Today (New York); Mar/Apr 2012. Explore "freudian slip" in the Visual Thesaurus. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: If only I may grow: firmer, simpler, -- quieter, warmer. -Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary General of the United Nations, Nobel laureate (1905-1961)

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