2006-09-06 09:34:03 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
It's an incorrect usage of a word by substituting a similar-sounding word with different meaning - for instance, "He's the very 'pinapple' of politeness (instead of pinaccle)." From the French phrase "mal a propos" - meaining "ill to the purpose."
2006-09-06 09:37:50 · answer #1 · answered by David M 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's the misuse ofg the English language when people use the wrong word but that sounds similar to the one they mean. This comes from the name of a charactre in Sheridanm's play 'The Rivals' who was named Mrs Malaprop.
Mrs. Malaprop's Malapropisms
Here are some of the original malapropisms from the lady herself: Mrs. Malaprop in Richard Sheridan's play The Rivals (1775).
In case you're not sure what it is that Mrs. Malaprop is intending to say I've put the correct word(s) in square brackets after each quotation.
"...promise to forget this fellow - to illiterate him, I say, quite from your memory."
[obliterate]
"O, he will dissolve my mystery!"
[resolve]
"He is the very pine-apple of politeness!"
[pinnacle]
"I have since laid Sir Anthony's preposition before her;"
[proposition]
"Oh! it gives me the hydrostatics to such a degree."
[hysterics]
"I hope you will represent her to the captain as an object not altogether illegible."
[eligible]
"...she might reprehend the true meaning of what she is saying."
[comprehend]
"...she's as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of Nile."
[alligator]
"I am sorry to say, Sir Anthony, that my affluence over my niece is very small."
[influence]
"Why, murder's the matter! slaughter's the matter! killing's the matter! - but he can tell you the perpendiculars."
[particulars]
"Nay, no delusions to the past - Lydia is convinced;"
[allusions]
"...behold, this very day, I have interceded another letter from the fellow;"
[intercepted]
"I thought she had persisted from corresponding with him;"
[desisted]
"His physiognomy so grammatical!"
[phraseology]
"I am sure I have done everything in my power since I exploded the affair;"
[exposed]
"I am sorry to say, she seems resolved to decline every particle that I enjoin her."
[article]
"...if ever you betray what you are entrusted with... you forfeit my malevolence for ever..."
[benevolence]
"Your being Sir Anthony's son, captain, would itself be a sufficient accommodation;"
[recommendation]
"Sure, if I reprehend any thing in this world it is the use of my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs!"
[apprehend, vernacular, arrangement, epithets]
2006-09-06 17:25:22 · answer #2 · answered by quatt47 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
it is an incorrect usage of a word by substituting a similar-sounding word with different meaning, usually with comic effect
2006-09-06 16:37:38 · answer #3 · answered by **KELLEY** 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
an incorrect usage of a word by substituting a similar-sounding word with different meaning.
"He is the very pineapple of politeness." (i.e. pinnacle)
2006-09-06 16:37:39 · answer #4 · answered by sndprssr 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
s from a dictionary : comical issue of a word by confusion with one which sounds similairoints....im thinkin 10 points...how bout you?
2006-09-06 16:38:18 · answer #5 · answered by dsfgfd 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
an act or habit of misusing words ridiculously, esp. by the confusion of words that are similar in sound.
2006-09-06 16:37:33 · answer #6 · answered by DLB 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋