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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Dialogue coach''': [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Up and ATOM!]]<br />
'''Rainer Wolfcastle''': [[Completely Missing the Point|Up and AT THEM!]]|[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}w3ZoHhvQgjU&feature{{=}}related This scene] from ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''}}
 
The verbal equivalent of [[Exactly What I Aimed At]], this is when a character deliberately says one thing, and is mistaken for having meant to say another thing. Cue another character wrongfully "correcting" them.
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{{examples}}
 
== Comic Books ==
* In ''[[Batman]]: Legends Of The Dark Knight'' #128 (collected in ''The [[Green Lantern|Ring]], the [[Green Arrow|Arrow]] and the Bat''), the [[Goo-Goo Godlike]] religious leader of a [[Fictional Country]] tells a treacherous general that he will be "safed". The general corrects his pronounciation of "saved", but the boy insists that's what he meant. Five minutes later, the general is hit by a falling safe.
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== Live Action TV ==
* Mr. Rumbold from ''[[Are You Being Served?|Are You Being Served]]'' would sometimes get the wrong idea of a word. For example the sales staff had the verb "to knee" meaning "press one's knee in the armhole of a suit to loosen a few threads so as to make it fit the customer better." Thus creating this exchange:
{{quote| '''Mr. Lucas:''' You see, it was like this, you see, Sir. Erm, Mr. Humphries kneed the jacket.<br />
'''Mr. Rumbold:''' Ah! You mean, Mr. Humphries '''needed''' the jacket. [[Grammar Nazi|Let's get our tenses right]].<br />
'''Mr. Humphries:''' No, no, you don't understand, Sir. You see, I kneed the jacket.<br />
'''Mr. Rumbold:''' You need it now?<br />
'''Mr. Humphries:''' No, I kneed it then.<br />
'''Mr. Rumbold:''' You mean, you needed it then.<br />
'''Captain Peacock:''' If I might clarify the situation, Sir.<br />
'''Mr. Rumbold:''' Thank you, Captain Peacock. It does seem to have got rather out of hand.<br />
'''Captain Peacock:''' Yes. It's a matter of spelling, Sir.<br />
'''Mr. Rumbold:''' Spelling?<br />
'''Captain Peacock:''' Yes Sir. You spelled kneed with an N. Mr. Humphries was using a K.<br />
'''Mr. Rumbold:''' Oh, you mean like kneading dough? Is that it, Mr. Lucas?<br />
'''Mr. Lucas:''' [[Deadpan Snarker|Yes, that's it]]. I needed the dough, but he didn't want the jacket because it was too tight.<br />
'''Mr. Rumbold:''' So you kneaded it to make it more supple, which was why you needed the jacket, you may recall Captain Peacock. That is what I said in the first place.<br />
'''Captain Peacock:''' Nearly right, Sir, yes. But what they're trying to explain, Sir, is that, erm... and coming from Hardware, you would not be aware of this, but there is a method used, and I disapprove of it myself, Sir. There is a method used to enlarge the arm holes of jackets, and the method used is to knee the jacket... with a K.<br />
'''Mr. Rumbold:''' [[Completely Missing the Point|I am aware of how you spell jacket]], Captain Peacock. }}
* There is a ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' sketch invoving a man who cannot pronounce the letter 'C' (his 'C's coming out as 'B's) that includes this exchange:
{{quote| '''Tourist:''' Yes I'm sorry I can't say the letter 'B'<br />
'''Bounder''': C?<br />
'''Tourist:''' Yes that's right. It's all due to a trauma I suffered when I was a spoolboy. I was attacked by a bat.<br />
'''Bounder:''' A cat?<br />
'''Tourist:''' No, a bat. }}
** Another ''[[Monty Python]]'' example is a sketch about a person who sometimes ends his sentences with the wrong fusebox.
{{quote| '''Burrows:''' It's so embarrassing when my wife and I go to an orgy. <br />
'''Thripshaw:''' A party? <br />
'''Burrows:''' No, an orgy. We live in Esher. <br />
'''Thripshaw:''' Quite. }}
* On ''[[Cheers]]'' Norm's favorite restaurant is the Hungry Heifer, which specializes in cheap food. One time he [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30RrFmWY5X4#t=7m09s got Cliff to go with him.]
{{quote| Norm: Cliffy had himself the "Ton O' T-Bone". For less than four bucks you get 24 ounces of USDA Choice bef.<br />
Cliff: Bef? No, you mean beef.<br />
Norm: Beef? Don't be ridiculous, Cliffy. That stuff is bef. You see it's a Hungry Heifer trademark for [[Lite Creme|a processed, synthetic, meat-like substance]].<br />
Cliff: Ah, no.<br />
Norm: What do you expect for four bucks? You see me complainin' about the loobster? }}
* In ''[[Green Acres]]'' ("It's Human to Be Humane"), [[Cloudcuckoolander|Lisa]] asks Oliver to play "Scribble, Cabbage, or Monotony", and he assumes it's one of her [[Malapropisms]]. Later, Mr. Drucker [[Strange Minds Think Alike|tries to sell him those same games]], which apparently do exist in [[Cloudcuckooland|Hooterville]].
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== Web Comics ==
* [http://xkcd.com/496/ This] issue of ''[[Xkcd]]'' comics, when someone "pleads the third."
{{quote| '''Interrogator:''' You mean [[Stock Legal Phrases|the fifth]]?<br />
'''[[Cloudcuckoolander|Black Hat Guy]]:''' No, the third.<br />
'''Interrogator:''' You refuse to quarter troops in your house? }}
* In ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'', during Roy's duel with Thog in the arena:
{{quote| '''Roy:''' I don't care how strong you are, thug.<br />
'''Thog:''' thog's name is thog.<br />
'''Roy:''' I didn't misspeak. }}
 
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== Western Animation ==
* Another Simpsons one:
{{quote| '''Bart:''' I'd be happy to do this one pro-boner.<br />
'''Skinner:''' You mean, "pro bono".<br />
'''Bart:''' I know what I said. }}
** Another yet:
{{quote| '''Homer:''' Nucular. It's pronounced nucular.}}
* From an episode of ''[[Danger Mouse]]'':
{{quote| '''Colonel K:''' Danger Mouse! Wales is being devastated by a giant fire-breathing dragon!<br />
'''Penfold:''' No, no, Colonel, it's "whales ''are'' being devastated." }}
 
 
== Real Life ==
* Real life: Tell someone that an anime was [[Macekre|macekered]]d and sometimes they'll say, "Don't you mean massacred?"
* Stage critic George Jean Nathan belittled Tallulah Bankhead for her playing in what he called ''[[Queen Of The Nile|Queen of the Nil]]'': "no e, please, Mr. Printer; don't make something out of nothing."
 
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