Malaproper: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Injuries to certain parts of the brain can produce [http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-11603235_ITM aphasia], loss of speech or speech [[Self-Demonstrating Article|implement]]. Damage to Broca's Area can cause a complete inability to form words at all, while damage to Wernicke's Area can produce [[Curse of Babel|complete loss of comprehensible speech]] (the words come out okay but don't mean anything in relation to each other). This is one cause of malapropism. That and liquor. Another very rare condition—proxyglossoriasis -- (according to the ''[[Duckman]]'' television show) has the sufferer replace the intended word with a nearby word in the dictionary. The effect is often [[Self-Demonstrating Article|hysterectomy]].

 

Compare and contrast with [[Delusions of Eloquence|Dilutions of Elegance]], [[Blunt Metaphors Trauma|Blonde Metal Fores Drama]], [[My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels|My Shovercraft Has Folded Wheels]]. Compare and contrast also with the [[Spoonerism|Sporkerism]], where the first letter or syllable is transposed for comedy effect. If the speaker uses the apparently correct words instead but gets hopelessly lost in their train of thought, that's [[Metaphorgotten|Metaphorgiven]].

 

{{examples}}

* A [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryakL3DXhAA 1980s radio spot] for Detroit-area retailer Highland Appliance featured an interview with a "professional doubletalker" who unleashed a veritable Hurricane Of Malaprops.

* A 1990s TV ad had a girl inviting the audience to "Call the shaggy octopus for a stale cart of giant yams." After she's given a pair of glasses: "Come to the Shopko Optical Center for a state-of-the-art eye exam."

 

* The titular character from ''[[Crayon Shin-chan]]'' does this a lot. Such as saying "Welcome home" when he comes home and "I'm leaving" when someone else comes back.

** In the gag dub, when Georgie asks Shin if his mother goes to any {{spoiler|drunken sex parties}} he mixes it up by replying that he doesn't know if she goes to any {{spoiler|drunken insect parties}}

'''Jack:''' I believe you mean "clobber". "Cobble" means to make shoes.

'''Aki:''' Whatever! Then I'm going to "cobble" together some boots and kick Crow's butt!}}

 

* Molly Hayes in ''[[Runaways]]'' sometimes mixes up her words.

* The Beast is prone to this in ''X-Men Noir'' because he tries to sound smart but reaches farther than his vocabulary can vouch for. He's a very bright kid, though.

** In one story, Melody's 'mixed-up maxims' are mistaken for [[Spy Speak|Sky Talk]], and she's handed something from another agent, because she inexplicately rattled off a code-phrase!

 

* Common in the ''[[Rocky (film)|Rocky]]'' series, what with Rocky being 'officially expired' from boxing and Paulie yelling about his [[Solid Gold Poop|'stinkin' Ex-lax watch']].

* Johnny Nogerelli in ''[[Grease 2]]'', whose verbal garbling produces gems such as turning "menstruation" into "mentalstration".

** Blake Edwards sometimes carries this a little further in the script by having people misunderstand Clouseau so badly that they worsen the situation. For instance in ''Return of the Pink Panther'', Clouseau refers to a chimp as a "muenkey" but the other characters, upon hearing this, pronounce it "minkey".

* Mr. Furious from ''[[Mystery Men]]''. He throws out gems like "People who live in glass houses......shouldn't! Because ''this'' happens!" (before utterly failing to break a windshield) or: "I am a [[Panthera]]'s box you do ''not'' want to open". He is corrected by the [[Big Bad]].

{{quote|"I am standing here beside myself."

"So now I am having no job to speak about. I will have to smack the sidewalk."

"I have seen some strange, bizarre drivers, but you. You will be awarded a cake."

"Bimbo!" }}

* ''[[Better Off Dead]]'': French exchange student Monique is ''mostly'' fluent in English, but has one or two slight vocabulary issues, resulting in lines like "He keeps putting his testicles all over me."

* ''[[The Goonies]]'' was like Micromoppers Gone Wild!, what with [[Bungling Inventor|Data]] and his "booty traps" and Mikey "I guess we're in big shit now right?" Walsh, who definitely inherited it from his mom.

* A rich Ditz calls her doctor late at night. "Excuse me, I have to 'insult' you, because I'm suffering from 'confections' of the head." [[Deadpan Snarker|The Doctor]]: "Then I suggest you send your maid to the 'fallacy' and get a bottle of 'rhinoceros' oil."

 

* Trolls in ''[[Discworld]]'' novels are often Malapropers, especially Sergeant Detritus:

{{quote|'''Detritus:''' He are not glad about being in a tent, as they say.

'''William de Worde:''' Has he ''ever'' been a happy camper? }}

** ''Everyone'' in the [[Discworld]] says that "The leopard can't change his shorts, you know."

** Nanny Ogg had one as well with "the worm is on the other foot now!" (mixing 'the worm has turned' with 'the boot is on the other foot now')

** "That was a pune, or play on words, you know!" (This comes from everyone, really, including [[The Grim Reaper|Death]], for example.)

** "He choked to death on a concubine." Sure, it's perfectly valid, but the guy he was talking about was in his late 80s, and choked to death on a ''cucumber''...

* [[Lord Peter Wimsey]]'s mother often does this. From her diary:

{{quote|I said to her, "Well, my dear, tell Peter what you feel, but do remember he's just as vain and foolish as most men and not a chameleon to smell any sweeter for being trodden on." On consideration, think I meant "camomile".}}

** "Why are you staring at me in that tone of voice?"

 

* ''[[Perfect Strangers]]'' made this a running gag for the character of Balki Bartokomous, from mixing two different phrases together (such as mixing the last line of the United States national anthem with a [[Burger King]] slogan, "Land of the free, home of the whopper") to using the wrong word at a particular point in a sentence ("Cousin Larry's going to become a professional lesbian" instead of "Cousin Larry's going to become a professional ''thespian''" or actor). [http://www.perfectstrangers.tv/balkiisms.htm A fansite has a season-by-season list of these twists of phrase known by fans of the series as "Balkisms"].

* ''[[The Electric Company]]'': Combined with [[Chain of Corrections|Train of Confections]] for one of the recurring skits, nicknamed "Giggles, Goggles." Here, two people – usually Rita Moreno and Judy Graubart – having a typical conversation when one of them (usually Moreno) misuses a word in simple everyday language. For instance, "Hey, I really enjoy going to Larry's every morning to enjoy those buttermilk ''flack'' jacks and sausage." The other woman (usually Graubart) would point out to her friend the incorrect usage of the word ("You mean ''flap''jacks"), to which Moreno would then misuse the new word. ("No, flap is a type of bulb you put on a camera when you take pictures in a dark room. A ''flap'' bulb.") The chain repeats for several words, usually six to eight, until Moreno arrives back at the original word ("flap"), before adding, "That's what I was trying to tell you!" leaving Graubart to sigh in frustration.

* Squiggy on ''Laverne & Shirley'' is the KING of this trope, averaging one or two per episode. Some classics include "with God as my waitress," "radioactive pay," and "The Idiot and the Oddity."

 

* The first line of [[Procol Harum]]'s "Whiter Shade of Pale", ''Skip the light fandango'' is a malapropism of ''Trip the light fantastic''.

* [[Frank Zappa]] often uses a rather unusual version of English in his songs, mainly to make the lyrics fit the music better. One particularly egregious example is the chorus to his song "Zomby Woof":

''Here I'm is, the Zomby Woof!'' }}

 

* Ernest from the comic strip ''[[Frank and Ernest]]'' is a master malaproper. Occasionally, he even appears as superhero Malaprop Man ("It's absurd! It's inane! It's Malaprop Man!").

* Ed Crankshaft, eponymous grumpy old man of ''[[Crankshaft]]'' tends to be of the "mixing metaphors" type, but occasionally strays into more improper malaprops, such as using "philanderer" for "philatelist".

** In one strip, the supporting cast all gasp in horror as he starts a malapropism with "you can lead a yak to water," and just brace themselves for what's to come. Opus realizes it, thinks hard... and concludes with "but you can't teach an old dog to make a silk purse out of a pig in a poke," which makes them scream.

* Sally from ''[[Peanuts]]'' often commits malapropisms in her school reports (such as the "Bronchitis", a dinosaur which became extinct from coughing too much).

* 50% of the humor of ''[[Family Circus]]'' is this.

 

* The ''[[Bob and Ray]]'' character of "Word Wizard" Elmer Stapley was given to this trope.

* Nick Depopoulous, the Greek restaurateur on ''[[Fibber McGee and Molly]]''.

* Count Arthur Strong. That is all.

 

* Emil Bollenbach, a [[Mad Scientist]] from several [[Ravenloft]] adventures, has a bad habit of mixing up common figures of speech.

 

* [[Older Than Steam]]: [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] was fond of having characters, especially lower-class characters who speak in prose, use a number of malapropisms (long before Sheridan was even born).

** Constable Dogberry in ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]''.

{{quote|"I love her - I miss her - I can't wait to kiss her - so soon I'll be off to Alberta - I mean Vancouver - (aside) shit, her NAME is Alberta, she LIVES in Vancou- she's my girlfriend! My wonderful girlfriend! Yes I have a girlfriend! Who lives! In! CANADA!"}}

* In ''[[Paint Your Wagon (theatre)|Paint Your Wagon]]'', Jennifer tries to tell her father that she's not a child anymore, but can't hide her lack of education: "I'm a growed-up person. I'm feelin' more adulterous all the time!" He gives her a stunned look, then quietly tells her it's not the right word. This is given an echo in a later scene, where Jennifer returns all schooled up, and her father scolds her, "What do you think, just because you're almost eighteen you've reached the age o' maternity?" To which Jennifer replies as he did to her earlier malaproper.

 

* In ''[[Super Robot Wars]] Original Generation'', Bullet Luckfield has a terrible habit of screwing up Japanese idioms, as it's not his native language. This is not helped by the fact that a fellow American keeps supplying him with intentionally bad idioms.

** Not to mention Excellen "Float like a flutterby, sting like a flea" Browning.

'''Mother Perpetua:''' "Those who bring ham"? And the Maker does not ''bread'' sinners! }}

 

* Senor Cardgage on ''[[Homestar Runner]]'', who can just ''never'' decide on what to say.

{{quote|'''Senor Cardgage:''' Carageenan, Montel John. Can you detect me to the nearest bus stamp?}}

** [http://www.hrwiki.org/index.php/Malapropisms Link to the Wiki page.]

 

* Jim, who plays Qui-Gon Jinn in ''[[Darths and Droids]]''.

* [[The Order of the Stick|Belkar]]: sextant vs. sex taint.

* [http://xkcd.com/739/ This] ''[[xkcd]]'' comic coins the term "malamanteau", for a malapropism created by combining two words. (The word is a combination of "malapropism" and "portmanteau", which is a combination of two words in this manner.) There was a lengthy discussion on Wikipedia regarding what should be done about the entry (which, like the word itself, did not exist until the comic went up); "malamanteau" was finally redirected to the article for ''xkcd'' itself.

* [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1841 This] [[Dinosaur Comics|Dinosaur Comic.]]

 

* ToasterLeavings's writeups at ''[[Everything2]]''. [http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1421290 Werd in dude!! (and by dude I also mean a ven diagram protractoring includesive of all hot chicks)...]

* Branca Braunstein of ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' is starting to mis-speak a fair bit; mostly because she's deluded herself into believing she is one of her "friends" who is far more upper-class than her, so to speak. {{spoiler|This coming directly after Branca ''killed'' aforementioned "friend".}}

* The episode of ''[[Pokémon: The Abridged Series|Pokémon the Abridged Series]]'' in which the heroes meet Sabrina, the Psychic Gym Leader, saw malapropisms of such words as "psychopath" and "psychic-ologist", much to the annoyance of Brock.

 

* Omi from ''[[Xiaolin Showdown]]''. In one episode, Raimundo suggests that [[An Aesop|the lesson for the day]] is "Omi can't use slang."

{{quote|'''Raimundo:''' What Omi just did to that sentence is what we're going to do to you!}}

* In early episodes of ''[[South Park]]'' the kids had trouble pronouncing long words, like hermaphrodite.

 

* In [[Real Life|Surreal Wife]], the second type of this (substitution of similar sounding words) can occur with a condition called paraphasia.

* Comedian Norm Crosby has made a career (or, more recently, an annual Jerry Lewis Telethon appearance) of the art of the carefully mis-chosen word.

** "People that had been trained in some instances to disassemble. That means not tell the truth."

** "I know how hard it is to put food on your family."

** "Republicans understand the importance of the bondage between parent and child."

** "We are the most powerful planet on earth."

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characters As Device]]

[[Category:Older Than Steam]]

[[Category:Self-Demonstrating Article]]