Today’s word of the day is malapropism. A malapropism is “an act or habit of misusing words ridiculously, especially by the confusion of words that are similar in sound” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/malapropism). Etymonline defines it as ‘an act or habit of misapplying words through ambition to use fine language,’ also a word so misapplied, 1826, from Mrs. Malaprop, character in Sheridan’s play ‘The Rivals’ (1775), noted for her ridiculous misuse of large words (such as contagious countries for contiguous countries), her name coined from malapropos.” The big difference is that Etymonline describes the motivation of the speaker, “through ambition to use fine language.” We might even say that the speaker wishes to sound erudite.

Just to complete the definition, Etymonline says this about malapropos: “’unsuitably, unseasonably,’ 1660s, from French mal à propos ‘inopportunely, inappropriately,’ literally ‘badly for the purpose,’ from mal (see mal-) + proposer ‘to propose, advance, suggest,’ from pro‘forth’ (see pro-) + poser‘put, place’ (see pose (v.1)). As an adjective, ‘inappropriate, out of place,’ by 1711.”

On this date in 1775, Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s play The Rivals.

Sheridan is another one of those Anglo-Irish writers, like Oscar Wilde. He was born in Dublin in 1751, to a couple of writers, but the family moved to England when he was about 7. He met and married Elizabeth Linley when he was just 21, though the marriage was preceded by a couple of duels with an army officer who publicly insulted her. She was well known as a beauty and as a singer, but after their marriage, Sheridan limited her singing to private affairs even though she could have made good money. They moved to London despite having very little income, and they lived off her dowry, well above their means.

Sheridan, realizing the difficulty he was in, decided to write a play, and he wrote The Rivals. It opened to condemnation, particularly because of one of the actors. But Sheridan rewrote the play, changed out the actor, and reopened it just days later. It was, on the second opening, an enormous success. It was such a success that his financial troubles were over. He purchased a share in the Drury Lane Theater, and later owned the entire thing as well as managing it. He also, eventually, had a long career in Parliament, and he continued writing. His masterpiece is, supposedly, The School for Scandal, but I actually prefer The Rivals.

Here are some quotes from Mrs. Malaprop in Sheridan’s play:

I would by no means wish a daughter of mine to be a progeny of learning.

You’re our enemy; lead the way, and we ‘ll precede.

She’s as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile.

If I reprehend anything in this world, it is the use of my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs!

Illiterate him, I say, quite from your memory.

We will not anticipate the past; so mind, young people,—our retrospection will be all to the future.

Now, Sheridan is not the only writer in history to have a character who says these kinds of things. In fact, he wasn’t even the first, though I am not sure who holds that honor. But Shakespeare’s Dogberry is also well-known for his malapropisms, or Dogberryisms as they are sometimes called:

…if I were as tedious as a king, I could find it in my heart to bestow it all of your worship.

Comparisons are odorous.

O villain! thou wilt be condemned into everlasting redemption for this.

But it is not just characters in plays who are guilty of malapropisms. Sometimes real-life speakers mess up, too:

We cannot let terrorists and rogue nations hold this nation hostile or hold our allies hostile.—George W. Bush

This is unparalyzed in the state’s history.—Gib Lewis, Texas Speaker of the House

The police are not here to create disorder, they’re here to preserve disorder.—Richard Daly, Mayor of Chicago

You can find malapropisms by other kinds of celebrities as well, and in some cases, the speakers deserve to be called out because they should know better. On the other hand, when the boxer Mike Tyson says, “I’m fading into Bolivian,” it’s a little easier to let him off the hook.

Today’s image is Mrs. Malaprop as played by Carol Schultz in a 2014 production of The Rivals at the Pearl River Company, from a review in the NY Times by David Rooney (https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/09/theater/lovebirds-twits-and-blowhards-in-the-rivals.html).