Popular law teacher and ex-Chairman of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Chidi Anselm Odinkalu blew the lid on the word ‘malapropism’ with his trending article “A Season of Political Malapropisms.”
With a number of examples, he revealed how crisscrossing Nigerian politicians say one thing but actually mean another.
“Almost without exception, the leading actors in Nigerian politics have changed or evolved party affiliations with disconcerting regularity. Such frequent transition between different parts of the political alphabet soup can induce neural disorientation or a short-circuiting of even the most grizzled of political wirings to produce logocentric consequences. This may explain the rich harvest of political malapropism that has come to define Nigeria’s current political season.
“Take, for instance, the case of Dino Melaye. In 2007, the people of Kabba/Ijumu Federal Constituency in Kogi State, north-central Nigeria, elected him to the House of Representatives on the ticket of the PDP. Eight years later, he took the oath of office as Senator for Kogi West on the platform of the APC. Today, Mr Melaye, is the official raconteur for the PDP presidential campaign. It is, however, not clear that his political wirings have purged themselves of their days in the APC. At the rally of the PDP presidential campaign in Maiduguri, Borno State, on 9 November, Dino passionately informed the people that they were going to be “voting APC everywhere.” One person tweeted in response that this kind of malapropism could only be the result of a tendency to “change party like pant.” It is difficult to fault this logic…”
Now have you ever mistakenly used the completely wrong word while speaking, causing weird looks or perhaps laughter? You’re not alone – celebrities, politicians and well-known fictional characters do it too. And in case you didn’t know, there’s a name for these linguistic goofs: “malapropisms.” Here are 16 Reader’s Digest’s most famous malapropism examples.
What is this malapropism?
A malapropism is the use of an incorrect word in place of another, especially when the incorrect word sounds similar to the correct one. While most malapropism examples, and often the best funny malapropisms, are unintentional errors, a malapropism can technically be a deliberate misuse of a word, too. Here are our favourite examples of famous, funny malapropisms.
The mother of malapropisms
“He is the very pineapple of politeness!” Pineapple?! She subbed in this fruit name for “pinnacle.”
“She’s as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile.” As far as we know, allegories don’t spend time around rivers – she was going for “alligator.”
The term “malapropism” itself actually comes from a character called Mrs Malaprop, from The Rivals, a 1775 five-act comedy by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Mrs. Malaprop did, in fact, use words incorrectly as a funny quirk of her character. Her name became the default term for misusing a word. Her name, in turn, comes from the French mal à propos, or “inappropriate.” Here are a couple of examples of Mrs. Malaprop’s malapropism examples:
More malapropism-happy characters
Mrs. Malaprop paved the way for plenty of other fictional characters to use funny malapropisms. Here are some malapropism examples in literature and pop culture:
In Much Ado About Nothing, Constable Dogberry uses multiple malapropisms – and is so known for them that “Dogberryism” has become another name for malapropism. At one point, he says, “Our watch, sir, have indeed comprehended two auspicious persons.” There are two malapropism examples in this line: He should have said “apprehended,” not “comprehended,” and “suspicious” rather than “auspicious.”
Shakespeare was quite the master of language, so it’s no surprise that his works contain numerous malapropism examples. In another instance, Henry IV, Part II’s Mistress Quickly says that the character Falstaff was “indicted to dinner” rather than “invited.”
You can find another malapropism in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. And, perhaps surprisingly, it’s not Huck who makes the mistake – it’s Aunt Sally, who says, “I was most putrified with astonishment.” Would that be “petrified”?
Australian TV characters Kath and Kim are also renowned for their malapropisms, most memorably: “I want to be effluent and practise serial monotony”… much more amusing than simply wanting to be affluent and practise serial monogamy.
Another character famous for malapropisms was Archie Bunker on All in the Family. The TV character provided us with such malapropisms as, “What do I look like, an inferior decorator?” instead of “interior decorator,” and “In closing, I’d like to say Molotov!” instead of “Mazel tov.”
Funny malapropisms from celebrities
As reported in a 1989 book, then-Vice President George Bush was discussing elections with baseball legend Yogi Berra. Berra reportedly said, “Texas has a lot of electrical votes,” instead of “electoral.” Hey, elections are confusing for everyone.
Mike Tyson came off worse in a boxing match in 2002. When a reporter asked him where he went from here, Tyson replied, “I might just fade into Bolivian.” Meaning “oblivion,” he wasn’t too far off, but the humorous mistake still went down as one of the funniest famous malapropisms.
In 2012, during an interview with Justin Bieber, David Letterman told the celeb that if he got any more tattoos, he’d look like the Sistine Chapel. Bieber replied, “I’m not going for the Sixteenth Chapel look.” Whoops!
Comedian Norm Crosby has made so many famous malapropisms (intentionally, for comedic effect!) that he was nicknamed “The Master of Malaprop.” He once directed his listeners to “listen to the blabbing” – not “babbling” – “brook.”
Professional baseball player Mike Smith once said that his new coat had “lots of installation,” rather than “insulation.”
Funny malapropisms from politicians
Politicians’ words are so widely seen, and already so subject to criticism, that their malapropisms go down in history. Some of the funniest are:
President George W. Bush was called out for several malapropisms, perhaps the funniest being 2000’s “We cannot let terrorists and rogue nations hold this nation hostile or hold our allies hostile.” Close, but we’re pretty sure he meant “hostage,” not “hostile”!
In his first entrance on the international stage, then-Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott hit a decidedly ‘bum note’ when he announced: “No one, however smart, however well-educated, however experienced … is the suppository of all wisdom.” We’re pretty sure he meant ‘repository’, as opposed to a pill inserted into one’s bottom.
Former US mayor of Chicago Richard J. Daley is said to have called tandem bicycles “tantrum” bicycles, and, per the Chicago Tribune, said O’Hare Airport was “the crosswords of the nation” rather than the “crossroads.”
Gib Lewis, the Texas Speaker of the House from 1983 to 1993, supposedly said, “This is unparalysed in the state’s history.” We’re not sure exactly what he was talking about, but we have a feeling he meant “unparalleled.”
