{"id":6385,"date":"2024-01-17T20:02:01","date_gmt":"2024-01-17T20:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/?p=6385"},"modified":"2024-01-17T20:04:05","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T20:04:05","slug":"word-of-the-day-malapropism-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/2024\/01\/17\/word-of-the-day-malapropism-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Word of the Day: Malapropism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today\u2019s word of the day is malapropism<\/em>. A malapropism is \u201can act or habit of misusing words ridiculously, especially by the confusion of words that are similar in sound\u201d (https:\/\/www.dictionary.com\/browse\/malapropism<\/a>). Etymonline defines it as \u2018an act or habit of misapplying words through ambition to use fine language,\u2019 also a word so misapplied, 1826, from Mrs. Malaprop<\/em>, character in Sheridan’s play \u2018The Rivals\u2019 (1775), noted for her ridiculous misuse of large words (such as contagious countries for contiguous countries), her name coined from malapropos<\/a>.\u201d The big difference is that Etymonline describes the motivation of the speaker, \u201cthrough ambition to use fine language.\u201d We might even say that the speaker wishes to sound erudite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just to complete the definition, Etymonline says this about malapropos<\/em>: \u201c\u2019unsuitably, unseasonably,\u2019 1660s, from French mal \u00e0 propos<\/em> \u2018inopportunely, inappropriately,\u2019 literally \u2018badly for the purpose,\u2019 from mal<\/em> (see mal-<\/a>) + proposer<\/em> \u2018to propose, advance, suggest,\u2019 from pro<\/em>\u2018forth\u2019 (see pro-<\/a>) + poser<\/em>\u2018put, place\u2019 (see pose<\/a> (v.1)). As an adjective, \u2018inappropriate, out of place,\u2019 by 1711.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this date in 1775, Richard Brinsley Sheridan\u2019s play The Rivals<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheridan is another one of those Anglo-Irish writers, like Oscar Wilde. He was born in Dublin in 1751, to a couple of writers, but the family moved to England when he was about 7. He met and married Elizabeth Linley when he was just 21, though the marriage was preceded by a couple of duels with an army officer who publicly insulted her. She was well known as a beauty and as a singer, but after their marriage, Sheridan limited her singing to private affairs even though she could have made good money. They moved to London despite having very little income, and they lived off her dowry, well above their means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheridan, realizing the difficulty he was in, decided to write a play, and he wrote The Rivals<\/em>. It opened to condemnation, particularly because of one of the actors. But Sheridan rewrote the play, changed out the actor, and reopened it just days later. It was, on the second opening, an enormous success. It was such a success that his financial troubles were over. He purchased a share in the Drury Lane Theater, and later owned the entire thing as well as managing it. He also, eventually, had a long career in Parliament, and he continued writing. His masterpiece is, supposedly, The School for Scandal<\/em>, but I actually prefer The Rivals<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some quotes from Mrs. Malaprop in Sheridan\u2019s play:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would by no means wish a daughter of mine to be a progeny of learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You’re our enemy; lead the way, and we ‘ll precede.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She’s as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I reprehend anything in this world, it is the use of my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Illiterate him, I say, quite from your memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will not anticipate the past; so mind, young people,\u2014our retrospection will be all to the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Sheridan is not the only writer in history to have a character who says these kinds of things. In fact, he wasn\u2019t even the first, though I am not sure who holds that honor. But Shakespeare\u2019s Dogberry is also well-known for his malapropisms, or Dogberryisms as they are sometimes called:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026if I were as tedious as a king, I could find it in my heart to bestow it all of your worship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comparisons are odorous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O villain! thou wilt be condemned into everlasting redemption for this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it is not just characters in plays who are guilty of malapropisms. Sometimes real-life speakers mess up, too:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We cannot let terrorists and rogue nations hold this nation hostile or hold our allies hostile.\u2014George W. Bush<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is unparalyzed in the state\u2019s history.\u2014Gib Lewis, Texas Speaker of the House<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The police are not here to create disorder, they\u2019re here to preserve disorder.\u2014Richard Daly, Mayor of Chicago<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can find malapropisms by other kinds of celebrities as well, and in some cases, the speakers deserve to be called out because they should know better. On the other hand, when the boxer Mike Tyson says, \u201cI\u2019m fading into Bolivian,\u201d it\u2019s a little easier to let him off the hook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s image is Mrs. Malaprop as played by Carol Schultz in a 2014 production of The Rivals<\/em> at the Pearl River Company, from a review in the NY Times<\/em> by David Rooney (https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/09\/theater\/lovebirds-twits-and-blowhards-in-the-rivals.html<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s word of the day is malapropism. A malapropism is \u201can act or habit of misusing words ridiculously, especially by the confusion of words that are similar in sound\u201d (https:\/\/www.dictionary.com\/browse\/malapropism). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[238,501,395,284,500],"class_list":["post-6385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-word-of-the-day","tag-dictionary","tag-dogberryism","tag-etymology","tag-linguistics","tag-malapropism","clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6385"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6387,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6385\/revisions\/6387"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}