A Catalogue of Useless Facts

Malapropisms

Malapropisms
- linguistics -

​​A "malapropism" is a linguistic effect where a speaker might replace one word in a phrase or sentence with a different word with a similar sound. In a true malapropism, the new word has a vastly different definition than the intended word, resulting in a phrase with no clear meaning. The term "malapropism" derives from "Mrs. Malaprop", a character in a 1775 play by British playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan; the character would frequently utter nonsense phrases like "illiterate him quite from your memory" (instead of the intended "obliterate"). A few recent examples include "lavatories of innovation" (instead of "laboratories") and "electrical votes" (instead of "electoral").

Similar to a malapropism is an "eggcorn", which also features a soundalike replacement. Unlike a malapropism, however, an eggcorn will still make some degree of sense in context. Examples include "feeble position" (instead of "fetal position"), "bold-faced lie" (instead of "bald-faced lie"), and "eggcorn" itself (instead of "acorn").

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Sources ▼

https://literarydevices.net/malapropism/