A malapropism is an act of misusing or the habitual misuse of similar sounding words, especially with humorous results. An example is Yogi Berra

Yogi Berra

Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra is a former American Major League Baseball catcher, outfielder, and manager. He played almost his entire 19-year baseball career for the New York Yankees...

's statement: "Texas has a lot of electrical votes," rather than "electoral votes".

Etymology

The word malapropos is an adjective or adverb meaning "inappropriate" or "inappropriately", derived from the French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 phrase mal à propos (literally "ill-suited"). The earliest English usage of the word cited in the Oxford English Dictionary

Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...

 is from 1630. Malaprop used in the linguistic sense was first used by Lord Byron in 1814 according to the OED.

The terms malapropism and the earlier variant malaprop come from Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan was an Irish-born playwright and poet and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. For thirty-two years he was also a Whig Member of the British House of Commons for Stafford , Westminster and Ilchester...

's 1775 play The Rivals

The Rivals

The Rivals, a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is a comedy of manners in five acts. It was first performed on 17 January 1775.- Production :...

, and in particular the character Mrs. Malaprop. Sheridan presumably named his character Mrs. Malaprop, who frequently misspoke (to great comic effect), in joking reference to the word malapropos.

The alternative term "Dogberryism" comes from the 1598 Shakespearean play Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....

, in which the character Dogberry

Dogberry

Dogberry is a self-satisfied night constable in Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing.In the play, Dogberry is the chief of the citizen-police in Messina. As is usual in Shakespearean comedy, and Renaissance comedy generally, he is a figure of comic incompetence...

 produces many malapropisms with humorous effect.

Distinguishing features

An instance of mis-speech is called a malapropism when:

1. The word or phrase that is used meaning something different from the word the speaker or writer intended to use.
2. The word or phrase that is used sounds similar to the word that was apparently meant or intended. For example, using obtuse (wide or dull) instead of acute (narrow or sharp) is not a malapropism; using obtuse (stupid or slow-witted) when one means abstruse (esoteric or difficult to understand) would be.
3. The word or phrase that is used has a recognized meaning in the speaker's or writer's language.
4. The resulting utterance
   Utterance
   In spoken language analysis an utterance is a complete unit of speech. It is generally but not always bounded by silence.It can be represented and delineated in written language in many ways. Note that in such areas of research utterances do not exist in written language, only their representations...
   
    is nonsense.

These characteristics set malapropisms apart from other speaking or writing mistakes, such as eggcorn

Eggcorn

In linguistics, an eggcorn is an idiosyncratic substitution of a word or phrase for a word or words that sound similar or identical in the speaker's dialect. The new phrase introduces a meaning that is different from the original, but plausible in the same context, such as "old-timers' disease" for...

s or spoonerism

Spoonerism

A spoonerism is an error in speech or deliberate play on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched . It is named after the Reverend William Archibald Spooner , Warden of New College, Oxford, who was notoriously prone to this tendency...

s.

Simply making up a word, or adding a redundant or ungrammatical prefix or suffix (subliminible instead of subliminal) to an existing word, does not qualify as a malapropism, these are neologisms.

Mrs. Malaprop

All of these examples are from Sheridan's play The Rivals

The Rivals

The Rivals, a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is a comedy of manners in five acts. It was first performed on 17 January 1775.- Production :...

.

• "...promise to forget this fellow - to illiterate him, I say, quite from your memory." (i.e. obliterate; Act I Scene II Line 178)
• "...she might reprehend the true meaning of what she is saying." (i.e. comprehend; Act I Scene II Line 258)
• "...she's as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of Nile." (i.e. alligator; Act III Scene III Line 195)
• "Sure, if I reprehend any thing in this world it is the use of my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs!" (i.e. comprehend, vernacular, arrangement, epithets)

Shakespeare

Malapropisms appear in many works written well before Sheridan created their namesake character; William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

 used them in a number of his plays.

Constable Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....

:

• "Comparisons are odorous." (i.e., odious; Act 3, Scene V)
• "Our watch, sir, have indeed comprehended two auspicious persons." (i.e., apprehended, suspicious; Act 3, Scene V)

Launcelot in The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...

:

• "Certainly (Shylock
  Shylock
  Shylock is a fictional character in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.-In the play:In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is a Jewish moneylender who lends money to his Christian rival, Antonio, setting the security at a pound of Antonio's flesh...
  
  ) is the very devil incarnal..." (i.e., incarnate; Act 2, Scene II)
• "That is the very defect of the matter, sir." (i.e., effect; Act 2, Scene II)

Elbow in Measure for Measure

Measure for Measure

Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. It was classified as comedy, but its mood defies those expectations. As a result and for a variety of reasons, some critics have labelled it as one of Shakespeare's problem plays...

:

• "two notorious benefactors" (i.e., malefactors; Act 2, Scene I)
• "if she has been a woman cardinally given"; (i.e., carnally; Act 2, Scene I)

Nurse in Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...

:

• "If you be he, sir, I desire some confidence with you." Benvolio
  Benvolio
  Benvolio Montague is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's drama Romeo and Juliet.-Sources:In 1554, Matteo Bandello published the second volume of his Novelle which included his version of Giuletta e Romeo. Bandello emphasises Romeo's initial depression and the feud between the families,...
  
   then responds "She will indite him to some supper." (i.e., conference, invite; Act 2, Scene IV)
• "I will tell her, sir, that you do protest, which, as I take it, is a gentlemanlike offer." (i.e., propose; Act 2, Scene IV)

Nick Bottom

Nick Bottom

Nick Bottom is a character in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream who provides comic relief throughout the play, and is famously known for getting his head transformed into that of an ass by the elusive Puck within the play.- Overview :...

 in A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...

:

• Bottom says he will "aggravate" his voice when he really means he will moderate it. (Act 1 Scene II)
• "lion vile hath here deflower'd my dear: which ...was the fairest dame" (i.e., devoured, Act 5 Scene I)

The First Clown in Hamlet

Hamlet

The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

:

• "... crowner’s quest ..." (i.e. coroner's inquest; Act 5, Scene I)

Clown in The Winter's Tale

The Winter's Tale

The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, some modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics, among them W. W...

:

• "Ay, or else 'twere hard luck, being in so preposterous estate as we are." (i.e. prosperous; Act 5, Scene II)

On seeing Midsummer Nights Dream at a church Ms Blackmore commented, "Its wonderful seeing this play on hollowed ground". (hallowed)

Malapropisms by other writers of fiction

• Tabitha Bramble and Winifred Jenkins, two characters in Tobias Smollett
  Tobias Smollett
  Tobias George Smollett was a Scottish poet and author. He was best known for his picaresque novels, such as The Adventures of Roderick Random and The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle , which influenced later novelists such as Charles Dickens.-Life:Smollett was born at Dalquhurn, now part of Renton,...
  
  's 1771 novel Humphrey Clinker, are founts of malapropisms:
  • Tabitha: "I know that hussy, Mary Jones, loves to be rumping (i.e. romping) with the men."
  • Winifred: "You that live in the country have no deception (i.e. conception) of our doings at Bath."

• Lee McKinney, the main character of the JoAnna Carl "Chocoholic Mysteries" tends to use malapropisms when nervous:
  • She looked sharply at me. "Am I trashing?" I said. "I mean, am I trespassing?"

Malapropisms by cartoonists

• "I'm going to get tutored!" (i.e., neutered)- One dog bragging to another in a Gary Larson
  Gary Larson
  Gary Larson is the creator of The Far Side, a single-panel cartoon series that was syndicated internationally to newspapers for 15 years. The series ended with Larson's retirement on January 1, 1995. His 23 books of collected cartoons have combined sales of more than 45 million...
  
   The Far Side
  The Far Side
  The Far Side is a popular single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from January 1, 1980, to January 1, 1995. Its surrealistic humor is often based on uncomfortable social situations, improbable events, an anthropomorphic view of the world,...
  
   cartoon. This could also be considered a mondegreen
  Mondegreen
  A mondegreen is the mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase as a result of near homophony, in a way that gives it a new meaning. It most commonly is applied to a line in a poem or a lyric in a song...
  
   since the dog misheard his master.
• The comic strip Frank and Ernest
  Frank and Ernest (comic strip)
  Frank and Ernest is a comic strip created and illustrated by Bob Thaves and later Tom Thaves. It debuted on November 6, 1972, and has since been published daily in over 1,200 newspapers...
  
   makes frequent use of malaprops, including appearances by the superhero
  Superhero
  A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
  
   "Malaprop Man".

Malapropisms by characters in films and television shows

• Archie Bunker
  Archie Bunker
  Archibald "Archie" Bunker is a fictional New Yorker in the 1970s top-rated American television sitcom All in the Family and its spin-off Archie Bunker's Place, played to acclaim by Carroll O'Connor. Bunker is a veteran of World War II, reactionary, bigoted, conservative, blue-collar worker, and...
  
   from the American TV sitcom All in the Family
  All in the Family
  All in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
  
   was known for malapropisms of words and names:
  • "The hookeries and massageries...the whole world is turning into a regular Sodom and Glocca Morra." (i.e., Gomorrah)
  • "Off-the-docks Jews" (i.e., Orthodox Jews)
  • "A woman doctor is only good for women's problems...like your groinocology." (i.e., Gynaecology
    Gynaecology
    Gynaecology or gynecology is the medical practice dealing with the health of the female reproductive system . Literally, outside medicine, it means "the science of women"...
    
    )
  • "I ain't a man of carnival instinctuals like you." (i.e., carnal instincts)
  • "All girls go cockeyed during pooberescency." (i.e., puberty)
  • "A Menstrual show" (i.e., minstrel)
  • "Irene Lorenzo, Queen of the Women's Lubrication Movement." (i.e., Liberation)
  • "Buy of them battery operated transvestite radios." (i.e., transistor)
  • "In her elastic stockings, next to her very close veins." (i.e., varicose)
  • "George Meaney, head of the UFO-CIA." (i.e., AFL-CIO)
  • "The first priorority is that I'm the sick one" (i.e., priority)
  • "To my dear daughter Gloria Bunker, whom I forgive for marrying the Meathead, I leave my living room chair as a centralpiece in her someday living room" (i.e., centerpiece)
  • "Last will and tentacle..." (i.e., testament)
  • "Patience is a virgin." (i.e., virtue)
  • "A Polack art exhibit!" (i.e., Jackson Pollock
    Jackson Pollock
    Paul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...
    
    ).
  • "As youse people say, Sh-boom." (i.e., shalom
    Shalom
    Shalom is a Hebrew word meaning peace, completeness, and welfare and can be used idiomatically to mean both hello and goodbye...
    
    )
  • A "Kuzeeknee" instead of 'Zucchini'

• Stan Laurel
  Stan Laurel
  Arthur Stanley "Stan" Jefferson , better known as Stan Laurel, was an English comic actor, writer and film director, famous as the first half of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy. His film acting career stretched between 1917 and 1951 and included a starring role in the Academy Award winning film...
  
   often used malapropisms in the Laurel and Hardy
  Laurel and Hardy
  Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...
  
   films:
  • "We heard the ocean is infatuated with sharks" (i.e., infested, although Ollie erroneously corrects him as meaning infuriated) - The Live Ghost
    The Live Ghost
    The Live Ghost is a 1934 American short film starring Laurel and Hardy, directed by Charles Rogers and produced by Hal Roach.-Plot:A tough sea captain is unable to hire on any new crew because his ship is reputed to be haunted, so he persuades fish-market workers Laurel and Hardy to shanghai a...
    
    .
  • "What a terrible cat's after me!" (i.e., catastrophe) - Any Old Port!
    Any Old Port!
    Any Old Port! is a 1932 short film starring Laurel and Hardy, directed by James W.Horne and produced by Hal Roach.-Plot:Sailors Laurel and Hardy disembark and book in a sleazy hotel. The owner Mugsie Long intends to marry a young girl against her wishes, but Stan and Ollie come to her rescue...
    
    
  • "We'd like a room with a southern explosion" (i.e., exposure) - Any Old Port!
    Any Old Port!
    Any Old Port! is a 1932 short film starring Laurel and Hardy, directed by James W.Horne and produced by Hal Roach.-Plot:Sailors Laurel and Hardy disembark and book in a sleazy hotel. The owner Mugsie Long intends to marry a young girl against her wishes, but Stan and Ollie come to her rescue...
    
    
  • "The doctor said I might get hydrophosphates" (i.e., hydrophobia) - Helpmates
    Helpmates
    Helpmates is a Laurel and Hardy short film comedy. It was directed by James Parrott, produced by Hal Roach and released by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer on January 23, 1932.- Plot :...
    
    
  • "We floundered in a typhoid" (i.e., typhoon) - Sons of the Desert
    Sons of the Desert
    Sons of the Desert is a 1933 American film starring Laurel and Hardy, and directed by William A. Seiter. It was first released in the United States on December 29, 1933 and is regarded as one of Laurel and Hardy's greatest films...
    
    
  • "We're like two peas in a pot" (i.e., pod) - Sons of the Desert
    Sons of the Desert
    Sons of the Desert is a 1933 American film starring Laurel and Hardy, and directed by William A. Seiter. It was first released in the United States on December 29, 1933 and is regarded as one of Laurel and Hardy's greatest films...
    
    

• Ricky (Robb Wells
  Robb Wells
  Robb Wells is a Canadian actor and screenwriter who portrayed Ricky on Trailer Park Boys.-Early life:Wells was born in Moncton, New Brunswick and moved to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia when he was eight years old...
  
  ) from Trailer Park Boys
  Trailer Park Boys
  Trailer Park Boys is a Canadian comedy mockumentary television series created and directed by Mike Clattenburg that focuses on the misadventures of a group of trailer park residents, some of whom are ex-convicts, living in the fictional Sunnyvale Trailer Park in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The...
  
   has many well known malapropisms, known by fans of the show as "Rickyisms", among them are:
  • Get two birds stoned at once (kill two birds with one stone)
  • Worst case ontario (worst case scenario)
  • I'm not a pessimist, I'm an optomitrist (optimists and pessimists)
  • Gorilla see, gorilla do (monkey see, monkey do)
  • Survival of the fitness (survival of the fittest)
  • Passed with flying carpets (passed with flying colours)
  • What comes around, is all around (what comes around, goes around)
  • It's clear to see who makes the pants here (who wears the pants)
  • Tempus Fuck It (Tempus fugit)
  • I doesn't take rocket appliances (rocket science)

• A great many cartoon writers use the form as well:
  • "Brudder, you got a preposition" and "That thing will give you a conclusion of the brain" (i.e., Proposition, concussion or possibly contusion) - Bugs Bunny
    Bugs Bunny
    Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
    
    
  • "My uncle had a problem with his probate and he had to take these big pills and drink lots of water." (i.e., prostate) - Roger Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit
    Who Framed Roger Rabbit
    Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters...
    
    
  • "The ironing is delicious." (i.e., irony) - The Simpsons
    The Simpsons
    The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
    
     Bart Simpson
    Bart Simpson
    Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
    
    , after finding Lisa
    Lisa Simpson
    Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
    
     in detention.
  • "As Bob is my witless." (i.e.,God, witness) - Rugrats
    Rugrats
    Rugrats is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The series premiered on August 11, 1991, and aired its last episode on June 8, 2004....
    
    

• The writers of The Sopranos
  The Sopranos
  The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
  
   often used malapropisms:
  • "...prostate with grief." (i.e., prostrate) - Tony Soprano
    Tony Soprano
    Anthony John "Tony" Soprano, Sr. is an Italian-American fictional character and the protagonist on the HBO television drama series The Sopranos, on which he is portrayed by James Gandolfini. The character was conceived by The Sopranos creator and show runner David Chase, who was also largely...
    
    
  • "Create a little dysentery among the ranks." (i.e., dissent) - Christopher Moltisanti
    Christopher Moltisanti
    Christopher "Chris" Moltisanti, played by Michael Imperioli, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. He was Tony Soprano's protégé and a Capo in the Soprano crime family.-Biography:...
    
    
  • ".. he could technically not have penisary contact with her volvo." (i.e., vulva) - Tony Soprano
    Tony Soprano
    Anthony John "Tony" Soprano, Sr. is an Italian-American fictional character and the protagonist on the HBO television drama series The Sopranos, on which he is portrayed by James Gandolfini. The character was conceived by The Sopranos creator and show runner David Chase, who was also largely...
    
     to Jennifer Melfi
    Jennifer Melfi
    Jennifer Melfi, M.D., is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. She is the psychiatrist of Mafia boss Tony Soprano. She is portrayed by Lorraine Bracco.-Character description:...
    
    
  • "Revenge is a dish best served with cold cuts." (i.e., cold) - Tony Soprano
    Tony Soprano
    Anthony John "Tony" Soprano, Sr. is an Italian-American fictional character and the protagonist on the HBO television drama series The Sopranos, on which he is portrayed by James Gandolfini. The character was conceived by The Sopranos creator and show runner David Chase, who was also largely...
    
    , quoting Dr. Melfi
  • "That's right, honey the sacred and the propane" (i.e., profane) - Carmine Lupertazzi Jr.
  • "My Tennessee William..." (i.e., Tennessee Williams
    Tennessee Williams
    Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
    
    ) - Adriana La Cerva
    Adriana La Cerva
    Adriana La Cerva played by Drea de Matteo, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. She is the long-time girlfriend and, later, fiancée of Tony Soprano's protégé, Christopher Moltisanti.-Character history:...
    
     to Christopher Moltisanti
    Christopher Moltisanti
    Christopher "Chris" Moltisanti, played by Michael Imperioli, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. He was Tony Soprano's protégé and a Capo in the Soprano crime family.-Biography:...
    
    

• As did the writers of many comedy programs:
  • "He didn't confess. You're just trying to make me admit something I didn't do. I know all about reverse biology, buddy. I'm not an idiot." (i.e., psychology) – Jason Lee
    Jason Lee (actor)
    Jason Michael Lee is an American actor and skateboarder known for his role as the title character on the NBC television series My Name is Earl, his portrayal of Syndrome in the film The Incredibles, his role as Dave Seville in the Alvin and the Chipmunks films, and his work with director Kevin...
    
     as Earl Hickey on NBC
    NBC
    The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
    
    's My Name Is Earl
    My Name Is Earl
    My Name Is Earl is an American television comedy series created by Greg Garcia that was originally broadcast on the NBC television network from September 20, 2005, to May 14, 2009, in the United States...
    
    
  • "I want to be effluent mum!" "You are effluent Kimi..." (i.e., affluent) - Kath & Kim
    Kath & Kim
    Kath & Kim is a Logie Award-winning character-driven Australian television situation comedy series. The series was created by, and is written by Jane Turner and Gina Riley who play the title characters: a suburban mother and daughter with a dysfunctional relationship...
    
    
  • "What are you incinerating?..." (i.e., insinuating) — Steptoe and Son
    Steptoe and Son
    Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about two rag and bone men living in Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC from 1962 to 1965, followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974. Its theme tune, "Old...
    
     ("Doodlebug over Shepherd's Bush" episode, written by Galton and Simpson
    Galton and Simpson
    Ray Galton OBE , and Alan Simpson OBE , are British scriptwriters who met in 1948 at a tuberculosis sanatorium, the Surrey county sanatorium near Godalming, on which the sitcom Get Well Soon was based...
    
    )
  • "No, a moo point. Yeah, it's like a cow's opinion. It just doesn't matter. It's moo." (i.e., moot) Joey Tribbiani
    Joey Tribbiani
    Joseph Francis "Joey" Tribbiani, Jr. is a fictional character on the popular U.S. television sitcom Friends and the title character in the spin-off, Joey , portrayed by Matt LeBlanc....
    
     on NBC
    NBC
    The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
    
    's Friends
    Friends
    Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
    
    
  • "Good to be back on the old terracotta" (i.e., terra firma
    Terra firma
    Terra firma is a Latin phrase meaning "solid earth" . The phrase refers to the dry land mass on the earth's surface and is used to differentiate from the sea or air.Terra Firma may also refer to:...
    
    ) - Del Boy
    Del Boy
    Derek Edward Trotter, better known as "Del Boy", is the fictional lead character in the popular BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses and one of the main characters of its prequel, Rock & Chips...
    
     in Only Fools and Horses
    Only Fools and Horses
    Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...
    
    
  • "Pedal stool" (i.e., pedestal
    Pedestal
    Pedestal is a term generally applied to the support of a statue or a vase....
    
    ) - in The IT Crowd
    The IT Crowd
    The IT Crowd is a British sitcom by Channel 4, written by Graham Linehan, produced by Ash Atalla and starring Chris O'Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson and Matt Berry...
    
    
  • "Damp squid" (i.e., damp squib) - in The IT Crowd
    The IT Crowd
    The IT Crowd is a British sitcom by Channel 4, written by Graham Linehan, produced by Ash Atalla and starring Chris O'Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson and Matt Berry...
    
    

• "Don't get historical!"
  • Said by Ringo Starr
    Ringo Starr
    Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
    
    's Aunt Jessie in Magical Mystery Tour
  • also said by BSM Williams (amongst many other malapropisms) in the BBC
    BBC
    The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
    
     comedy series It Ain't Half Hot Mum
    It Ain't Half Hot Mum
    It Ain't Half Hot Mum was a British sitcom about the adventures of a Royal Artillery Concert Party, broadcast on the BBC between 1974 and 1981, and written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, the creators of Dad's Army...
    
     (Episode: "Gloria's Finest Hour")

• Officer Crabtree
  Officer Crabtree
  Officer Crabtree is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom Allo 'Allo!, which ran from 1982 to 1992; he was played by actor Arthur Bostrom....
  
   of the British comedy program, 'Allo 'Allo, speaks atrocious French, which is rendered in the series as English filled with malapropisms. For example, he recalls a "nit on the bonk of the Thames" (i.e., night, bank) with a female "secret urgent" (i.e. agent). Another regular of his is his greeting when he enters René's
  René François Artois
  René François Artois is a fictional character, the main character in the BBC sitcom Allo 'Allo!, which ran from 1982 to 1992. The character was played by the actor Gorden Kaye...
  
   Café: "Good Moaning" (i.e., Good morning)

• Virginia Chance
  Virginia Chance
  Virginia Chance is a fictional character on Raising Hope played by Martha Plimpton.Virginia is Hope's grandmother, Jimmy's mother, and Burt's wife. Virginia conceived Jimmy when she was fifteen...
  
   of the show Raising Hope
  Raising Hope
  Raising Hope is a television comedy program first aired on September 21, 2010 on Fox. The series airs on Tuesdays at 9:30 pm. On January 10, 2011, Fox renewed Raising Hope for a second season, which premiered on September 20, 2011....
  
   regularly uses malapropisms in her speech.
  • "Quit your procrasterbating and go talk to him."

• Private "Snowball" Brown in the Stanley Kubrick
  Stanley Kubrick
  Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
  
   film Full Metal Jacket
  Full Metal Jacket
  Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 war film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is an adaptation of the 1979 novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford and stars Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Arliss Howard and Adam Baldwin. The film follows a platoon of U.S...
  
   commits a malapropism in trying to explain details of President Kennedy's
  John F. Kennedy
  John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
  
   assassination and the distance of the shot taken by Lee Harvey Oswald
  Lee Harvey Oswald
  Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
  
  .
  • "Sir, it was pretty far! From that book suppository building, sir!"

Malapropisms by real people

Malapropisms are often quoted in the media:

• Former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley
  Richard Daley
  Richard Daley may refer to:*Richard J. Daley , Mayor of Chicago , father of Richard M. Daley*Richard M. Daley , Mayor of Chicago , son of Richard J. Daley...
  
  : "Let's get this straight. The police don't cause disorder. The police are here to preserve disorder."
• It was reported in New Scientist
  New Scientist
  New Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of...
  
   that an office worker described a colleague as "a vast suppository
  Suppository
  A suppository is a drug delivery system that is inserted into the rectum , vagina or urethra , where it dissolves.They are used to deliver both systemically-acting and locally-acting medications....
  
   of information". (i.e., repository
  Repository
  Repository commonly refers to a location for storage, often for safety or preservation.Repository may also refer to:* Repository clone, concept from distributed revision control...
  
   or depository) The worker then apologised for his "Miss-Marple-ism". (i.e. malapropism) New Scientist reported it as possibly the first time malapropism has been turned into a malapropism.
• Time
  Time (magazine)
  Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
  
   reported Irish
  Ireland
  Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
  
   Taoiseach
  Taoiseach
  The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...
  
   Bertie Ahern
  Bertie Ahern
  Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern is a former Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 26 June 1997 to 7 May 2008....
  
   as warning his country against "upsetting the apple tart" (i.e., apple cart) of his country's economic success.
• "It's great to be back on terracotta!" (i.e., terra firma
  Terra firma
  Terra firma is a Latin phrase meaning "solid earth" . The phrase refers to the dry land mass on the earth's surface and is used to differentiate from the sea or air.Terra Firma may also refer to:...
  
  ) — John Prescott
  John Prescott
  John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott is a British politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007. Born in Prestatyn, Wales, he represented Hull East as the Labour Member of Parliament from 1970 to 2010...
  
  , a British politician echoing Del Boy (see above). This is disputed by John Prescott himself.
• The titles of the tracks "A Hard Day's Night
  A Hard Day's Night (song)
  "A Hard Day's Night" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles. Written by John Lennon, and credited to Lennon–McCartney, it was released on the movie soundtrack of the same name in 1964...
  
  " and "Tomorrow Never Knows
  Tomorrow Never Knows
  "Tomorrow Never Knows" is the final track of The Beatles' 1966 studio album Revolver but the first to be recorded. Credited as a Lennon–McCartney song, it was written primarily by John Lennon...
  
  " by The Beatles
  The Beatles
  The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
  
   are both "Ringoisms", or malapropisms by Ringo Starr
  Ringo Starr
  Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
  
  .
• "Mr Speaker, you are the anecdote to verbal diarrhoea- [Laughter]" — Tobias Ellwood
  Tobias Ellwood
  Tobias Martin Ellwood is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Bournemouth East.-Early life:Ellwood was born in New York City and educated at schools in Bonn and Vienna...
  
  , MP for Bournemouth East, UK

"Order. I think the word for which the hon. Gentleman was vainly searching was probably "antidote"." — John Bercow

John Bercow

John Simon Bercow is a British politician who has been the Speaker of the House of Commons in the United Kingdom since June 2009. Prior to his election to Speaker he was a member of the Conservative party....

, MP, Speaker of the House, UK

"I congratulate my hon. Friend on a good recovery. If I may say so, Mrs Malaprop would have been proud of him." — Sir George Young, MP for NW Hampshire, UK

Examples in the Russian language

• The word rynda for "ship's bell". The English
  English language
  English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
  
   phrase "Ring the bell!" was heard by Russian seamen as "Ryndu bey!", i.e., "Hit the rynda", rynda being the word for the tsar
  Tsar
  Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
  
  's bodyguard. Accordingly, the phrase "to hit the rynda" was used to mean "to signal time with the ship's bell", and later the bell itself has become commonly known as ship's "rynda".

Philosophical significance

In the essay "A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs", philosopher Donald Davidson

Donald Davidson (philosopher)

Donald Herbert Davidson was an American philosopher born in Springfield, Massachusetts, who served as Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley from 1981 to 2003 after having also held teaching appointments at Stanford University, Rockefeller University, Princeton...

 argues that malapropisms demonstrate that competence in a language is not a matter of applying rigid rules to the decoding of utterances. Rather, says Davidson, it appears that in interpreting others, people constantly modify their own understanding of our language.

See also

• Anti-proverb
  Anti-proverb
  An anti-proverb is the transformation of a stereotype word sequence – as e. g. a proverb, a quotation, or an idiom – for humorous effect. To have full effect, an anti-proverb must be based on a known proverb...
  
  
• Catachresis
  Catachresis
  Catachresis is "misapplication of a word, especially in a mixed metaphor" according to the Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory...
  
  
• Colemanballs
  Colemanballs
  Colemanballs is a term coined by Private Eye magazine to describe verbal gaffes perpetrated by sports commentators. The word Colemanballs probably borrows from Colemans Meatballs, once familiar in the UK and sold by the company ColemanNatural...
  
  
• Chris "Mad Dog" Russo
• Eggcorn
  Eggcorn
  In linguistics, an eggcorn is an idiosyncratic substitution of a word or phrase for a word or words that sound similar or identical in the speaker's dialect. The new phrase introduces a meaning that is different from the original, but plausible in the same context, such as "old-timers' disease" for...
  
  
• Engrish
  Engrish
  refers to unusual forms of English language usage by native speakers of some East Asian languages. The term itself relates to Japanese speakers' tendency to inadvertently substitute the English phonemes "R" and "L" for one another, because the Japanese language has one alveolar consonant in place...
  
  
• Freudian slip
  Freudian slip
  A Freudian slip, also called parapraxis, is an error in speech, memory, or physical action that is interpreted as occurring due to the interference of some unconscious , subdued, wish, conflict, or train of thought...
  
  
• Goldwynisms

• Holorime
  Holorime
  Holorime is a form of rhyme in which the rhyme encompasses an entire line or phrase. A holorime may be a couplet or short poem made up entirely of homophonous verses.-Holorime in English:...
  
  
• Homonym
  Homonym
  In linguistics, a homonym is, in the strict sense, one of a group of words that often but not necessarily share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings...
  
  
• List of commonly misused English words
• Mondegreen
  Mondegreen
  A mondegreen is the mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase as a result of near homophony, in a way that gives it a new meaning. It most commonly is applied to a line in a poem or a lyric in a song...
  
  
• Norm Crosby
  Norm Crosby
  Norm Crosby is an American comedian sometimes associated with the Borscht Belt who often appeared on television in the 1970s. He is best known for his use of malapropisms and is often called The Master of Malaprop. He was born in Boston.-Career:Crosby went solo as a standup comedian, adopting a...
  
  
• Spoonerism
  Spoonerism
  A spoonerism is an error in speech or deliberate play on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched . It is named after the Reverend William Archibald Spooner , Warden of New College, Oxford, who was notoriously prone to this tendency...
  
  
• Yogiism
• Viktor Chernomyrdin