A.Word.A.Day--malapropism
malapropism (MAL-uh-prop-iz-ehm) noun
1. The humorous misuse of a word by confusing it with a similar-sounding
word.
2. An instance of such misuse.
[After Mrs. Malaprop, a character in Richard Sheridan's play, The Rivals,
who confused words this way.]
"For younger readers: Norm Crosby was a semi-celebrated stand-up comic
in the '60s whose gimmick was the malapropism, or the confusing of
similar-sounding words and phrases, often with amusing effect. Examples
include saying `held hostile' instead of `held hostage,' complaining about
being `pillared' in the press when you mean `pilloried,' and telling
school kids that to succeed, `You've got to preserve,' when the word you
had in mind was `persevere.'
"These particular examples are, as it happens, all actual malapropisms
enunciated by candidate Bush, who has also confused `subscribe' with
`ascribe,' `gist' with `grist,' and `vile' with either `vital' or
`viable,' depending on how you read a call for `an economically vile
hemisphere.'"
Bob Wieder, A Guide to Bushspeak, The San Francisco Chronicle,
Sep 10, 2000.
This week's theme: words from AWAD archives.
X-Bonus
Walking is also an ambulation of mind. -Gretel Ehrlich, novelist, poet, and
essayist (1946- )
