malapropisms

Malapropisms are a linguistic phenomenon in which a speaker uses a word that sounds similar to the one intended but has a different meaning, often producing a humorous or nonsensical expression. The term comes from Mrs. Malaprop, a stock character in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals (1775), whose comically erroneous phrases became a fixture of English-language humor. Common examples include “illiterate him from your memory” (intended: obliterate) and “the very pineapple of politeness” (intended: pinnacle).

Malapropisms differ from spoonerisms, which swap initial sounds between words, rather than substituting a different word with a similar sound. They can arise from memory slips, mishearing, or a subconscious attempt to sound more impressive by using a sophisticated word, often with unintended consequences.

In literature, malapropisms are used to characterize individuals, provide satire, or create verbal humor. They recur in plays, novels, and film as a device that reveals a character’s education, social pretensions, or comic naiveté. They can also appear in everyday speech, sometimes prompting readers or listeners to reinterpret the intended meaning.

Scholars study malapropisms within linguistics, semantics, and pragmatics, noting that such errors reflect how the mental lexicon relies on phonology and similarity judgments. They remain a durable source of humor and a useful illustration of how language can misfire when form and meaning diverge.