Mrs. Malaprop (Mary Louise Wilson) & Sir Anthony Absolute (Will LeBow), The Rivals******
. In his 1775 Restoration comedy, The Rivals, Richard Sheridan introduced a humorous character by the name of Mrs. Malaprop. The name is derived from the French mal à propos, (inappropriate), and describes the way she used many words in her speech. The self-educated Mrs. Malaprop was always substituting a similar-sounding word for the word actually intended, making a hilariously nonsensical sentence. The name Malaprop has been immortalised in the form of the malapropism, which means any sentence in which one word has been used incorrectly in place of another.
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Here are a few malapropisms that have been gathered from the Internet:
~~Flying saucers are just an optical conclusion.
~~A rolling stone gathers no moths.
~~Let's get down to brass roots.
~~Their father was some kind of civil serpent.
~~The flood damage was so bad they had to evaporate the city.
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And here are some malaprops from famous people:
~~"It is beyond my apprehension." Danny Ozark, baseball team manager
~~"Listen to the blabbing brook." Norm Crosby
~~"And then he [Mike Tyson] will have only channel vision." Frank Bruno, boxer
~~"The police are not here to create disorder, they're here to preserve disorder." Richard Daley, former Chicago mayor
~~"Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child." Dan Quayle, Vice President
~~"Well, that was a cliff-dweller." Wes Westrum, about a close baseball game
~~"If Gower had stopped that [cricket ball] he would have decapitated his hand." Farokh Engineer
~~"We seem to have unleased a hornet's nest." Valerie Singleton
~~"It will take time to restore chaos and order." George W. Bush, President
~~"Be sure and put some of those neutrons on it." Mike Smith, ordering a salad at a restaurant
~~"It's got lots of installation." Mike Smith, describing his new coat
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In Britain, malapropisms are called Colemanballs. The name was coined by Private Eye magazine and is derived from David Coleman, a BBC sports commentator particularly prone to such slips. Others famous for their malapropisms are Yogi Berra, George W. Bush, and Murray Walker.
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To have more fun with words, click on my label "word games". Information gathered from fun-with-words.com
fascinating betsy...some of those are pretty funny...i gotta try and restore some chaos in my house today...lol. happy sunday!
ReplyDeleteI've heard of those, but I couldn't have told you what they were without looking them up, or checking you out! You're a fount of information, Betsy. Thanks for making us smarter.
ReplyDeleteYou left out Sarah Palin, queen of political malapropisms.
ReplyDeleteCali Girl ~ really? I didn't find a single Palin one on the 'net.
ReplyDeleteThese really make me giggle. I'm deaf and watch TV with subtitles, which are equally nonsensical much of the time. I was just watching the German Grand Prix and one of the subtitles said: "He seems to be finding virgins in all the wrong places." ??? I'd love to know what the commentator really said. I'm sure it wasn't that.
ReplyDeleteThis was a lot of fun to read. I love how people repeat what they think they have heard and then quote a totally different meaning. Great blog!!!
ReplyDeleteJennyfreckles ~ oh dear...that is SO funny! :)
ReplyDeleteThose are so funny! Thanks for sharing. I have one friend who talks about teenage boys always taking risks as being "invisible" (instead of invincible)
ReplyDeleteBambi ~ haha...they WISH they were invisible, don't they?
ReplyDeleteThese are incredibly funny! Thanks for sharing with us. Seriously, how you do have time to write as much as you do and STILL find the strength and all to care for your children. Amazing. :)
ReplyDeleteNorm Crosby based his whole comedy career on malapropisms. So did Huntz Hall; remember him from the Dead End Kids and the Bowery boys?
ReplyDeleteSmiling my way through the day now. My husband loves to do this intentionally.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read you post the first name that popped into my head was Yogi Berra.
ReplyDeleteThis was such a fun post to read!!!
I learn a lot here...thanks teacher!
So amazing...and her hair is more than a hoot..woot woot! :D
ReplyDeleteA Reverand named william Archibald Spooner did this kind of thing. They were called Spoonerisms. Some of my favorites :
ReplyDeleteOur queer old Dean. He meant to say our dear old Queen. Can you imagine how that went over?
Our shoving leopard. He meant to say our loving shepherd.
Is the bean dizzy? meant to say, is the Dean busy?
Lynne ~ oh yes, spoonerisms! I did a post on the a while back. They are funny...and a little more common, I think!
ReplyDeleteThis one made be start giggling like crazy..."The flood damage was so bad they had to evaporate the city." Thanks for the origin of the word. Very entertaining post!
ReplyDeleteStevie ~ that one was my favorite, too! I hope they have a really strong breeze to help! ha.
ReplyDeleteHilarious !
ReplyDeleteI seem to hear a few of these on a regular basis..
I always smile indiscreetly :)
This was so much fun and informative to boot. My step father is the master of the malaprop - "I'm going to drink myself to Bolivia." Or "God little green apple."
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget those 2 Aussie trailer trash girls Kath & Kim Betsy. Turing to her mother Kath, Kim (who wants to move to move up the social ladder) whines 'I want to be effluent Mum, effluent!!'
ReplyDeleteMillie ^_^
Actually I have never heard that word, "colmanballs" used here in Britanistan.
ReplyDeleteYou people in the colonies are a funny lot!
A great collection Betsy which put a smile on my face on a Monday morning. It is wet and grey over here, so that is quite an achievement.
ReplyDeleteI love when I get all those grammar lesson in the English language.;)) Always love to learn something new.;))
ReplyDeleteHave a great Monday,
xoxo
He,he, sounds like how my son talks all the time. It often takes me awhile to figure out exactly what he meant to say!
ReplyDeleteSo funny. It is actually considered a minor type of dyslexia, you know. I have to confess being pretty prone to these word gaffes quite a bit. My favourite? He when I mean she and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThis fun little game made me think of Tigger and all the Winnie the Pooh videos we had when my kids were small. Tigger was a great one for inserting the wrong word. (But do you think I can recall one at the moment?)
ReplyDeleteKeith, are we really still considered colonies?
As we always say, "hasta la pizza, baby !"
Years ago an old friend's fiancee confused the expression "Johnny-on-the-spot" (meaning someone who's there when you need him) with the expression "on the dot" (meaning "on time"). She said he was always on time, and called him "Johnny-on-the-dot."
ReplyDeleteI didn't know they had a name! My husband comes out with some occasionally. One he uses quite often is, 'it was squashed by Parliament', instead of 'quashed'! Fun post.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite Colemanball was when he was commenting on a cycling race and said "The cycler in front is breaking a lot of wind." Another was a question he put to a star athlete: "How long have you had this life-long ambition?"
ReplyDeleteWhat did Mike Smith meant with "It has lots of installation?" I'm doing an english homework and can't find the answer!
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