Well, we'll have a gay old time with this one! And no I'm not talking about the modern meaning of the word "gay," which can be used as a derogatory term for a homosexual man. I'm reaching back to the early 1900s with this one, when the word "gay" meant happy, joyful or a good time.
As time passes, the meanings of words can change dramatically. Some seem to no longer have connections at all with what the original word meant.
For example, the word easel, in it's original Dutch derivative, meant donkey. These days, an easel is best recognized at something upon which a painter places a canvas.
For a related example, the word ass. That also meant donkey, and still can. It can also mean a fool or an overbearing jerk. However, this term also has various sexual connotations in modern language ranging from a person's rear end or derrière to an actual sexual act.
The same can be said of the word faggot. An older version of the word faggot involves wood used in fireplaces. Or if you want to go back even further, head over to ancient Rome when senators would carry a faggot over their shoulders to identify their status. (The symbol continues today though many people won't recognize it. Just look at a dime.)
Over time, it changed to a term that again is derogatory of homosexuality, specifically men. And the shortened version of the word, fag, is also what a cigarette can be called in Europe.
I remember when I was in the play "The Rivals" that I discussed in my post on malapropisms, there was a character by the name of Mr. Fag. Because of the connotations of that word, the director changed the name to Mr. Bragg.
Even though that play was written so long ago, the changes in language since then made a name uncomfortable to use. Such may be the fate of words we use today in some future we won't see.
This is by far not the first time I have personally noted a change in definition from era to era, age to age. Language is not stagnate and since evolution is a part of life, it is fitting that language also changes and adapts as times passes.
Except for ones like Latin, which is considered a "dead" language because it hasn't changed in a very long time.
Sometimes terms come into being as a fad, a slang.
For example, how many people recognize the word "gnarly" by it's meaning from the 1980s? According to Urban Dictionary (a site I find completely fascinating), it's a slang term for something extreme, with both negative and positive connotations. In the past, and in the rare instance it is used today, gnarly means something twisted or difficult to achieve.
Few people will say "That's gnarly, man!" these days, but you might stumble over a gnarly root.
How about a nice step back in time now...
In one of Shakespeare's plays (I believe "Othello"), there is a reference to a tail that's not talking about something hanging down behind... Indeed, it's something that tends to hang down in front. At least it hangs until something works it up anyway, though I saw a news report that when it's up, it's actually relaxed.
Either way, that really puts a whole new twist on having your tail tucked between your legs when you think of drag queens.
Though, it's still something that can be wagged... OK enough with the sexual innuendos on that one...
What one word means today may not necessarily be what it will mean in the future or what it meant in the past.
Why would I bother making a point about this? Because I happen to adore reading Shakespeare and words in his plays have meanings for the people of his day that many people of this day and age wouldn't recognize or would interpret differently.
So the things we write today may one day come under the interpretation of future readers who may struggle with it. Why? Without knowing the context of the words as we use them now, such people will not understand what we are talking about and it may even make them reluctant to use the word.
It's all relative, though it's not Albert Einstein.
We relate to the words we use in everyday speech, like cool and phat. They may become part of the general language, as words like tweet and blog have in recent years. Or they may fade away, the passing fad that loses its panache as people overuse or grow bored with it.
Makes me think of the many uses of the F-word, which is also a perfect example of how language has changed. It has gone from a word meaning to strike to one with various meanings including sexual ones as well as emotional ones. If you wish, here is a link to a video on YouTube about this word. It really is an audio file to which someone added the video, but that's OK. And remember, since this is about the F-word, it does contain adult language.
All of a sudden, I can't help but think of the episode of "Family Guy" in which Stewie travels to the future. He spray paints something on the wall that he thinks is derogatory, but because of a person winning an election, the meaning of the word had changed and it was no longer derogatory. (I believe the episode was "Bango Was His Name, Oh!" However, I am not sure.)
Here is a video from a lecture by Steven Pinker. In this he is talking about how language is acquired and how it changes as we mature. For parents who want their children to learn another language, they might want to consider using the new language by kindergarten, or even earlier, because of how they learn it. Like me beginning to learn French with the Muzzy videos when I was three.
Then there are the phrases, like "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts" or "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."
Like individual words, these phrases come and go through history. There was one day I responded to a comment from an older co-worker with the latter of those two phrases. He had no idea what I was talking about, so I looked it up and showed him the meaning of the phrase.
That incident really surprised me at the time, though I guess it shouldn't have. It was a phrase I grew up hearing, and I thought he would know what it meant, in that you don't want to seem rude and closely examine a gift, be it an easy day at work or a financial windfall.
So, I goofed on that one and had to haul out a book I like to flip through from time to time that has the history of words and phrases. My copy is currently in storage so I can't give you the exact title, but I believe it is "The QBP Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins." There are several editions of this book, and I am not sure what edition I have, or even if this is indeed the book I have!
Either way, keep this in mind when you are reading something from a different time. The tongue-in-cheek commentary, the subtle jokes or even the blatant jabs may not mean now what once they did.
I'm not trying to be a Jack about this (that's another Shakespeare reference for you), but I feel it is important for people to see just how much change, and chance, play a role in our lives, in our culture, in the very language we speak and write.
For this post, I found Google Books and The Free Dictionary to be quite useful...
I also found a blog posted by Ed West, on "The Telegraph" (August 23, 2011), to be interesting as it addressed a very similar topic... Here is a link to that post if you would like to read it.
Showing posts with label malapropism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label malapropism. Show all posts
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Oh the Marvelous, Myriad Morass of Malaprops!
Sometimes they are funny, sometimes they are just dumbfounding. But these mistakes, if you catch them, might just strike one of those chords.
And no, I'm not pulling a V with that title. (By the way, I'm also not referencing the weird TV series about the aliens with this comment. It's from a comic that was made into a movie in 2006.)
But first, you might be wondering what exactly a malapropism is. Well, there are two ways to find out. You can go read the play "The Rivals" by Richard Sheridan and intuit it from the text, or you can just look it up, which isn't as much fun.
In the end, a malapropism happens when a person says or writes a word correctly but uses it in the wrong context. My copy of the "Webster Contemporary Dictionary" says a malapropism is "an absurd misuse of words that sound somewhat alike."
One of my favorites from the play will always be the "allegory on the banks of the Nile." Though being a "progeny of learning" is something else entirely, and you had better watch out for those "contagious countries" in Europe.
By the way, "The Rivals" isn't a new play by any means. It was written in the 18th century. I believe it was first performed in the mid-1770s.
On a personal note, I had the pleasure of playing this role in high school, in 1999.*
In an earlier post, I mentioned President "Back" Obama and all the things we take for "granite."
One word: Oops.
So if the number of traffic "fatties" is going down, someone is graduating with a "bachelorette" degree, a teenager has been arrested and charged with "passion" of a controlled substance, or you ask for forgiveness saying you will go "flatulate" yourself... Well I think those speak for themselves.
And before you accuse me of making any of those up, I have to say no, I'm not. Every single one of those is a malapropism I have seen or heard. And they are only a few, choice picks, of the mass of such mistakes I have seen.
These may seem like fairly obvious mistakes, but, as I stated in that aforementioned earlier post, you won't catch them unless you proofread. And even then, some might get through.
Still, even in a potentially serious situation, you can find a moment of hilarity. For instance, near the beginning of the H1N1 influenza pandemic, my mother and I accompanied my father to the emergency room after he had fallen one night. While there, I noticed a sign posted on one of the cabinets about hand washing when entering and "existing" a room.
I would certainly hope a person would be existing when entering such a place. And remaining that way upon exiting would be a plus.
Especially for all those drug "attics" who just have to get their fix, ranging from oxycodone to "plackebos." I couldn't figure out any other way to write that one to show how the person mispronounced it...
Enough with the examples for while.
Even though these mistakes can be funny, just like bad writing and grammar, they reduce the credibility of the writer. That is if a reader even notices the mistake.
What makes malapropisms so very tricky is the simple fact that the word IS similar even though it's incorrect. Take the "bachelorette" degree for example. The correct word would be baccalaureate or maybe bachelor's. But if you weren't sure how to spell the correct word, you might take a guess and then use spell check. That might bring up the other, like the horror story I was once heard about a graduate student writing his thesis on Madame "Ovary."
I've mentioned before that sometimes my brain will simply not a register a mistake because to me, it looks correct. But then fresh eyes find problems.
For example, in my post about the spelling and grammar problems in text language, I accidentally wrote something was "detonating" rather than denoting. My sister caught that one, so I'm just as likely to make these mistakes as anyone else.
I have never claimed that I don't make mistakes when it comes to my writing, but that's why, in my proofreading post, I talked about having fresh eyes look at something I write to make sure it's correct.
In the same way, other people may be reading so quickly, they will simply breeze over a mistake like a malapropism and their brain will read it the way it's supposed to be.
Just like this line a co-worker sent to me once - "Too bee, ore naught (knot) two bee." All those words are spelled correctly and the line still reads correctly, but if you've ever read "Hamlet," you'll know it's wrong. Heck, even if you haven't read "Hamlet," just about everybody knows that line and would recognize it (even in Klingon).
In the end though, it all comes back to looking over the words on the paper or on the screen.
Probably the biggest problem with malapropisms is the simple fact that, for many, spell check won't catch them.
So back to proofreading.
Please, I don't want to be "scent" to jail for pointing out these glitches, but still, nothing, ABSOLUTELY nothing replaces proofreading as a way to prevent them.
* Funny story related to my playing Mrs. Malaprop... I was out visiting a university in Arizona, auditioning for music and theater. On the flight back to Virginia, my mother was helping me rehearse my lines. She had the script and was giving me my cues. After the plane landed and we were preparing to disembark, I was surprised to get a Standing O from the other passengers, some of whom told us they spent the whole flight listening.
In the end, I didn't attend that university. I got a better offer from the University of Missouri. I happen to be the sixth member of my family to attend Mizzou, and the fourth to graduate.
And no, I'm not pulling a V with that title. (By the way, I'm also not referencing the weird TV series about the aliens with this comment. It's from a comic that was made into a movie in 2006.)
But first, you might be wondering what exactly a malapropism is. Well, there are two ways to find out. You can go read the play "The Rivals" by Richard Sheridan and intuit it from the text, or you can just look it up, which isn't as much fun.
In the end, a malapropism happens when a person says or writes a word correctly but uses it in the wrong context. My copy of the "Webster Contemporary Dictionary" says a malapropism is "an absurd misuse of words that sound somewhat alike."
One of my favorites from the play will always be the "allegory on the banks of the Nile." Though being a "progeny of learning" is something else entirely, and you had better watch out for those "contagious countries" in Europe.
By the way, "The Rivals" isn't a new play by any means. It was written in the 18th century. I believe it was first performed in the mid-1770s.
On a personal note, I had the pleasure of playing this role in high school, in 1999.*
In an earlier post, I mentioned President "Back" Obama and all the things we take for "granite."
One word: Oops.
So if the number of traffic "fatties" is going down, someone is graduating with a "bachelorette" degree, a teenager has been arrested and charged with "passion" of a controlled substance, or you ask for forgiveness saying you will go "flatulate" yourself... Well I think those speak for themselves.
And before you accuse me of making any of those up, I have to say no, I'm not. Every single one of those is a malapropism I have seen or heard. And they are only a few, choice picks, of the mass of such mistakes I have seen.
These may seem like fairly obvious mistakes, but, as I stated in that aforementioned earlier post, you won't catch them unless you proofread. And even then, some might get through.
Still, even in a potentially serious situation, you can find a moment of hilarity. For instance, near the beginning of the H1N1 influenza pandemic, my mother and I accompanied my father to the emergency room after he had fallen one night. While there, I noticed a sign posted on one of the cabinets about hand washing when entering and "existing" a room.
I would certainly hope a person would be existing when entering such a place. And remaining that way upon exiting would be a plus.
Especially for all those drug "attics" who just have to get their fix, ranging from oxycodone to "plackebos." I couldn't figure out any other way to write that one to show how the person mispronounced it...
Enough with the examples for while.
Even though these mistakes can be funny, just like bad writing and grammar, they reduce the credibility of the writer. That is if a reader even notices the mistake.
What makes malapropisms so very tricky is the simple fact that the word IS similar even though it's incorrect. Take the "bachelorette" degree for example. The correct word would be baccalaureate or maybe bachelor's. But if you weren't sure how to spell the correct word, you might take a guess and then use spell check. That might bring up the other, like the horror story I was once heard about a graduate student writing his thesis on Madame "Ovary."
I've mentioned before that sometimes my brain will simply not a register a mistake because to me, it looks correct. But then fresh eyes find problems.
For example, in my post about the spelling and grammar problems in text language, I accidentally wrote something was "detonating" rather than denoting. My sister caught that one, so I'm just as likely to make these mistakes as anyone else.
I have never claimed that I don't make mistakes when it comes to my writing, but that's why, in my proofreading post, I talked about having fresh eyes look at something I write to make sure it's correct.
In the same way, other people may be reading so quickly, they will simply breeze over a mistake like a malapropism and their brain will read it the way it's supposed to be.
Just like this line a co-worker sent to me once - "Too bee, ore naught (knot) two bee." All those words are spelled correctly and the line still reads correctly, but if you've ever read "Hamlet," you'll know it's wrong. Heck, even if you haven't read "Hamlet," just about everybody knows that line and would recognize it (even in Klingon).
In the end though, it all comes back to looking over the words on the paper or on the screen.
Probably the biggest problem with malapropisms is the simple fact that, for many, spell check won't catch them.
So back to proofreading.
Please, I don't want to be "scent" to jail for pointing out these glitches, but still, nothing, ABSOLUTELY nothing replaces proofreading as a way to prevent them.
* Funny story related to my playing Mrs. Malaprop... I was out visiting a university in Arizona, auditioning for music and theater. On the flight back to Virginia, my mother was helping me rehearse my lines. She had the script and was giving me my cues. After the plane landed and we were preparing to disembark, I was surprised to get a Standing O from the other passengers, some of whom told us they spent the whole flight listening.
In the end, I didn't attend that university. I got a better offer from the University of Missouri. I happen to be the sixth member of my family to attend Mizzou, and the fourth to graduate.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Quality Writing...
If there is one thing that bothers me about the dependence on technology so many people have developed, it is the simple fact that spell check DOESN'T catch everything! In fact, it'll sometimes mess you up worse. There is simply NO replacement for actual proofreading.
Example: I saw a story at one point where the author was talking about President "Back" Obama. Wait a minute... I think we're missing a syllable. So spell check would say the word was correct... And that's the problem.
Mrs. Malaprop is probably flipping her pages, going nuts for some of the things that slip by because people are relying too much on spell check. "For all the things we take for granite," READ WHAT YOU WRITE! (And that is an actual malapropism I have seen. Not the funniest, but certainly up there!)
I'm sure it often looks like I've made a mistake, but I try very hard not to do so. What's the main thing I do? I proofread like crazy!! Two, three, four times... I will proofread and proofread until I have whatever it is almost memorized! And then you know what? If I can, I have somebody ELSE look at what I've written. Why? Because fresh eyes will catch mistakes mine won't see!
I've had it happen many times, more times than I care to count, that I've written something that looks fine to me. My brain is reading whatever I wrote as correct. But someone else takes a look at it, and they find spelling issues, transposed letters, dropped letters and other mistakes. I wasn't seeing those mistakes because, as far as my brain was concerned, those mistakes didn't exist.
Even in writing this entry, I'm proofreading as I go and finding several places where I left out a word. Maybe my brain is going faster than my fingers or maybe I'm simply not actually writing the words but my brain thinks I am. How confusing can you get? That's a little confusing even for me, and it's coming from me!
A lot of the time, I'll be using a writing style that might seem a little archaic or words that aren't used everyday. That could simply be, since my mother was an English teacher, I was taught a more strict, regimented writing style. But the lackadaisical attitude I have seen from so many people when it comes to their writing, it really makes me wonder what people are being taught now.
What is the basic structure of a sentence? Subject, Verb, Object. Something does something to something. Then you get fancy and add extra clauses, adjectives, adverbs, etc. But you have to have those three elements first. THEN get fancy.
The basics do matter, especially in print-type media, which a lot of the Internet still is despite all the fancy JAVA, ASP, PHP and everything else you can use.
Even in just writing a basic paper, watch what you are writing.
Some programs do have a "grammar check" in them, but I don't trust it because it seems to underline the strangest things. However, a grammar point of contention with me is AGREEMENT. An organization, like a hospital or a single business, is an IT! That means ITS business, not THEIR business does something. The only time a writer should use their for an organization is if that writer is talking about more than one organization.
In mentioning "their," I can't help but cringe at the thought of homonyms. PAINFUL! There are so many words that sound alike but are spelled differently, and mostly mean different things. For example, probably two of the most common homonym mistakes I see involve their, they're and there or your, you're and yore (add that last one if you really want to screw with somebody's head. It has amazed me how many people don't know what that third one means).
Sometimes it's just a missed letter... Sometimes it's the completely wrong word in the given context of the specific sentence. Those details can make you, as a writer, look smart or ignorant.
Here's one for you - What are the five ways to say "ough?" "Ow" (bough), "off" (cough), "oh" (dough), "oo" (through) and "uff" (rough). This one works best if you say it aloud... Otherwise the mistake with "The dough is rising" when you say dough like cough doesn't quite make sense. My mother says this was originally in "The Reader's Digest" many years ago... Something about a recent immigrant on a subway with a bowl of dough. Don't ask me because I have no idea why in the world someone would be on a subway with a bowl of fresh dough...
There are so many potential mistakes, most of which can be caught by proofreading. It also helps to know basic written English such as how to write numbers, subject-verb agreement, subject-object agreement and so much more. To me, it seems as though English, as a written language, is dying. Otherwise, what is Ebonics?
Yes, spell or grammar check CAN help, BUT they CANNOT do it all. Like the above examples of Back Obama and taking things for granite... The words are spelled correctly, but they are incorrect in that usage! If you simply take an extra minute and reread what you have written, you'll avoid a lot of potential problems.
Learning any written form of language is hard. Being a person who is bi-lingual, I can say that and be honest. However, English is a screwy language. And while every language has its foibles, simply paying attention will help most people avoid pitfalls.
Don't rely solely on spell check or grammar check. You are your own spell check and grammar check. You, who ever you are, as a writer, should be fixing those mistakes.
Example: I saw a story at one point where the author was talking about President "Back" Obama. Wait a minute... I think we're missing a syllable. So spell check would say the word was correct... And that's the problem.
Mrs. Malaprop is probably flipping her pages, going nuts for some of the things that slip by because people are relying too much on spell check. "For all the things we take for granite," READ WHAT YOU WRITE! (And that is an actual malapropism I have seen. Not the funniest, but certainly up there!)
I'm sure it often looks like I've made a mistake, but I try very hard not to do so. What's the main thing I do? I proofread like crazy!! Two, three, four times... I will proofread and proofread until I have whatever it is almost memorized! And then you know what? If I can, I have somebody ELSE look at what I've written. Why? Because fresh eyes will catch mistakes mine won't see!
I've had it happen many times, more times than I care to count, that I've written something that looks fine to me. My brain is reading whatever I wrote as correct. But someone else takes a look at it, and they find spelling issues, transposed letters, dropped letters and other mistakes. I wasn't seeing those mistakes because, as far as my brain was concerned, those mistakes didn't exist.
Even in writing this entry, I'm proofreading as I go and finding several places where I left out a word. Maybe my brain is going faster than my fingers or maybe I'm simply not actually writing the words but my brain thinks I am. How confusing can you get? That's a little confusing even for me, and it's coming from me!
A lot of the time, I'll be using a writing style that might seem a little archaic or words that aren't used everyday. That could simply be, since my mother was an English teacher, I was taught a more strict, regimented writing style. But the lackadaisical attitude I have seen from so many people when it comes to their writing, it really makes me wonder what people are being taught now.
What is the basic structure of a sentence? Subject, Verb, Object. Something does something to something. Then you get fancy and add extra clauses, adjectives, adverbs, etc. But you have to have those three elements first. THEN get fancy.
The basics do matter, especially in print-type media, which a lot of the Internet still is despite all the fancy JAVA, ASP, PHP and everything else you can use.
Even in just writing a basic paper, watch what you are writing.
Some programs do have a "grammar check" in them, but I don't trust it because it seems to underline the strangest things. However, a grammar point of contention with me is AGREEMENT. An organization, like a hospital or a single business, is an IT! That means ITS business, not THEIR business does something. The only time a writer should use their for an organization is if that writer is talking about more than one organization.
In mentioning "their," I can't help but cringe at the thought of homonyms. PAINFUL! There are so many words that sound alike but are spelled differently, and mostly mean different things. For example, probably two of the most common homonym mistakes I see involve their, they're and there or your, you're and yore (add that last one if you really want to screw with somebody's head. It has amazed me how many people don't know what that third one means).
Sometimes it's just a missed letter... Sometimes it's the completely wrong word in the given context of the specific sentence. Those details can make you, as a writer, look smart or ignorant.
Here's one for you - What are the five ways to say "ough?" "Ow" (bough), "off" (cough), "oh" (dough), "oo" (through) and "uff" (rough). This one works best if you say it aloud... Otherwise the mistake with "The dough is rising" when you say dough like cough doesn't quite make sense. My mother says this was originally in "The Reader's Digest" many years ago... Something about a recent immigrant on a subway with a bowl of dough. Don't ask me because I have no idea why in the world someone would be on a subway with a bowl of fresh dough...
There are so many potential mistakes, most of which can be caught by proofreading. It also helps to know basic written English such as how to write numbers, subject-verb agreement, subject-object agreement and so much more. To me, it seems as though English, as a written language, is dying. Otherwise, what is Ebonics?
Yes, spell or grammar check CAN help, BUT they CANNOT do it all. Like the above examples of Back Obama and taking things for granite... The words are spelled correctly, but they are incorrect in that usage! If you simply take an extra minute and reread what you have written, you'll avoid a lot of potential problems.
Learning any written form of language is hard. Being a person who is bi-lingual, I can say that and be honest. However, English is a screwy language. And while every language has its foibles, simply paying attention will help most people avoid pitfalls.
Don't rely solely on spell check or grammar check. You are your own spell check and grammar check. You, who ever you are, as a writer, should be fixing those mistakes.
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