Malapropism: noun -
taken from the surname of Mrs. Malaprop,
a character in R. B. Sheridan's comedy ‘The Rivals’ (1775) noted for her misuse
of words: unintentionally humorous misuse or distortion of a word or phrase; use
of a word sounding like the one intended (homophones) but ludicrously wrong in
the context.
Used well, the deliberate replacing of words with different
ones can really make a humorous scene.
‘If it’s true that Jesus sent them gabardine swine into the
sea to drown, it’s not very Christian, is it?’ (Gadarene).
‘Them women was jus’ sayin’ that there fellah’s fallacy ain’t
nowhere near as huge as ‘e says it is.’ (phallus)
Picture: Overlooking the Yorkshire Dales.
2 comments:
Although true that the name Malaprop gave us the malapropism, it was not by accident that Sheridan named his character Malaprop. The word malapropos is an adjective or adverb meaning "inappropriate" or "inappropriately", derived from the French phrase mal à propos, literally "ill-suited". The earliest English usage of the word cited in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1630. So it would seem that Sheridan had this in mind when naming his character.
Thanks for this, Ian. It's always good to have new information; the derivation you cite makes good sense and illustrates how authors can 'borrow' appropriate words as labels and names in their work. It's something I sometimes do when writing my fantasy stories; adding an extra layer of meaning for those who understand the references.
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