I'm sure we have all heard someone use an incorrect word in the place of a word that may sound very similar. I think of the famous line from Yogi Berra when he said, “He can hit from either side of the plate. He's amphibious.” These verbal blunders, called “malapropisms,” can be quite funny, often at the expense of the person who utters them. Although William Shakespeare used this kind of word play in his plays well before, the term “malapropism” is often attributed to a character in the Richard Brinsley Sheridan play “The Rivals.” In Brinsley Sheridan's play, Mrs. Malaprop often makes such “word gaffs.” There is another explanation that the term derives from the French “mal a propos,” which translates to “not appropriate.”
I have recently seen or heard a couple of these malapropisms, and they made me chuckle. I recently saw an end of the school year calendar in which there was scheduled a “Bachelorette and Senior Awards Night.” Of course, what was meant was “Baccalaureate.” When I first saw this, I thought to myself, “All these seniors are having a bachelorette party, and they're giving awards? Now that's going to be one fun party!” On another occasion, I heard someone mention the high school Valedictorian and “Salutadictorian.” I'll leave that one alone.
Then there was former President George W. Bush who claimed that, “They misunderestimated me.” Before that, it was Vice President Dan Quayle who said, “Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.” After a particularly brutal boxing match, heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson told a reporter that he was “fading into Bolivian.” I'm sure he enjoyed his Bolivian vacation. Entertainer Justin Bieber once vowed not to go overboard with tattoos saying, “I'm not going for the Sixteenth Chapel look.”
Here are a couple more: “The food in our cafeteria is not fit for human constipation.” How about: “Senators are chosen as committee chairmen on the basis of senility.” (I believe there is a hint of truth in that one.) “The only sure-fire way to avoid teenage pregnancy is through obstinance.” (Again, there could be a bit of truth there as well.) Another one with more than a grain of truth: “Too many Americans lead a sedimentary life.”
No matter how you may slay it, have a grape day, here on the “Funny Slide.”