Malapropism

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The malapropism is the unintentional usually using a similar sounding but false of the intention of her word. Often these are foreign words, the substitute word does not make any real sense and the result looks funny. Malapropisms result from insufficient command of foreign words, in particular, but they are also used in a targeted manner in literary terms. Malapropism is similar to spoonerism , the swapping of word introductory phonemes or morphemes within a single word or two words. It differs from corruption in that no new terms are created, but the comedy lies in the exchange of existing terms, which gives the statement a different meaning. In contrast to Schnodderdeutsch , Malapropisms do not belong to a specific jargon.

etymology

The word "Malapropism" is derived from the character of Mrs. Malaprop from Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play Die Rivalen (1775), which deliberately used long and cumbersome words to create the impression of erudition, but this constantly wrong due to a lack of language skills Second hand.

The name of Mrs. Malaprop, on the other hand, is a descriptive name derived from the French expression mal à propos ("inappropriate").

use

After the term malapropism was originally used exclusively to denote the trick in literary texts of intentionally using words incorrectly, it was later expanded so that it is now also used to describe the inadvertent misuse of words. As a rhetorical medium, deliberately used malapropisms are used in factual and practical texts (e.g. advertising) as well as in fictional literature, where they are used to characterize characters.

Outside of literary contexts, the term “malapropism” is mainly used to describe an involuntary linguistic failure of a third party, which results from a deficit, for example a knowledge gap, an error or a (psychological) performance problem. Occasionally, malapropisms are also used deliberately in social situations. In this case, they usually fulfill pragmatic functions for self-presentation, for example to make the user appear unconventional or funny.

Numerous malapropisms have now found their way into everyday language as empty phrases and anti-proverbs .

Examples

  • "My goodness, this is syphilis work ." (Instead of sisyphus work )
  • ",A hero! A hero!' she called several times and demanded that Beethoven's 'Erotica' must be played on his grave. "(instead of Eroica . Thomas Mann , Der Zauberberg )
  • "Frau Stöhr called him a" money magnet "(magnate! The terrible!)." ( Thomas Mann , Der Zauberberg )
  • "He cleverly pulled himself out of the atmosphere ." (Instead of an affair )
  • "The measures are enforced with bronchial violence." (Instead of brute force )
  • "I'm not doing it because of the disgraceful mammoth ." (Instead of mammons )
  • "We should station a copy there." (Instead of making an example )
  • "These expenses tear a huge hole in the bidet " (instead of budget )
  • "This is a presidential case." (Instead of precedent )
  • "He was a conifer of his field." (Instead of a luminary )

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