I had to look up the word 'malapropism' today....thought I'd share this insight.
So....malapropism is a word-problem.
You sit there....watching TV, or listening to the radio, or watching some intellectual talk over something, and they utter some word, phrase, or term....that is unintentionally comic in nature.
It'd be like you uttering: "We need a escape-goat to blame." The true phrase that you meant...."We need a scapegoat to blame."
What I've tended to notice....once this was laid out...there are just people walking around who are WIRED in some way to talk a lot, and misspeak often with malapropism in the middle of things.
If you watch CNN or listen to NPR a good bit....you will pick up on this issue. The people you notice....they do it over and over. It doesn't make them stupid or less intelligent....just you (the listener) sit there and in the middle of some 'talk'.....you ask yourself....'what the hell did she mean'.
In some cases, you probably even get your mind 'reset'....to mute the malapropism moments and just pretend it didn't occur.
Just an humble observation.
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Popularized during the 1960s by Professor Irwin Corey, The World's Foremost Authority.
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