Malapropism

   This word entered the English language through the name of a character in The Rivals (1775), a play written by Englishman Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816). The play introduced Mrs. Malaprop, an endearing late-middle-age woman given to confusing similar-sounding words, with hilarious results. The word she used, although sounding somewhat like the the word intended, had a completely different meaning. For example, she described someone "as headstrong as an allegory (alligator) on the banks of the Nile."

   Mrs. Malaprop delivered her lines with such aplomb that her audience responded to her blunders with delight. Among her linguistic blunders: "I would by no means want a daughter of mine to be a progeny (prodigy) of learning;" "Don't attempt to extirpate (exculpate) yourself from this matter;" "He is the very pineapple (pinnacle) of politeness." Such mixups as "supercilious (superficial) knowledge," "contagious (contiguous) countries," and "to illiterate (obliterate) him from your mind" had audiences roaring with laughter. Today, any grotesque misapplication of a word, especially by one resembling it, is a malapropism. Sheridan wrote all his major comedies when he was in his twenties. He then forsook his writings for politics and, as a member of Parliament, was an outstanding talented orator, comparable to England's most distinguished orators, Edmund Burke and Prime Minister William Pitt.