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A lot of times I'll hear a politician or see a commenter in a public forum where they clearly think the meaning of one or more words they use is something other than the real meaning. Is there a term for this type of "near miss?"

tchrist
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Amy Blankenship
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  • Are you sure that the mistake always lies with the politician rather than yourself? The typical politician is skilled in choosing words that can be interpreted in more than one way (former British PM Harold Wilson's "pragmatic" was a classic), though some politicians do seem to make more gaffes than others. I can't find a mistake in article you link to: could you please point out the one you have identified. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 23 '14 at 16:52
  • The late Ernest Bevin, Minister of Labour in Churchill's wartime coalition, and subsequently Foreign secretary in the post-war Labour Government was noted for his Malapropisms and mis-pronunciations. Bevin left school at 13, and worked as a drayman before rising through the Trade Union movement to found the Transport and General Workers Union. – WS2 Mar 23 '14 at 17:54
  • @Edwin Ashworth Reasonably so. I was raised by an English teacher. If you looked at the link on mobile you might not have realized that the link was not to the article, but to the comment thread. Once the page fully loads, do a search on "Amy" and you should be able to pinpoint what I was pointing to. – Amy Blankenship Mar 23 '14 at 20:25
  • @AmyBlankenship: What does the word 'supine' mean to you? – Michael Owen Sartin Mar 23 '14 at 21:08
  • Some people would definitely call it an anachronism. – Spehro Pefhany Mar 23 '14 at 22:01
  • AHD: supine 2. Having the palm upward. Used of the hand. >> This is skilfully used by the commenter in the linked article as a synonym for 'having adopted a begging posture', a metonym for 'having a beggarly attitude'. He explains this elliptically. Hardly a good example of catachresis. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 24 '14 at 00:13
  • @EdwinAshworth: Putting aside OP's example and just dealing with the question at face value, catachresis wouldn't be a bad answer. – John Y Mar 24 '14 at 02:29
  • @AmyBlankenship: Those who are not immediately dismissing your question as a duplicate are getting distracted by your ill-chosen example. I think you should consider editing your question with better examples. Perhaps someone uses obviate when they mean "to make obvious". I personally know of someone who consistently and intentionally uses concatenate to mean "truncate", because she honestly believes that's what it means. – John Y Mar 24 '14 at 03:10
  • @John Y It was a good answer. At least on the first occasion. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 24 '14 at 09:20
  • @Edwin Ashworth: Now you're showing your age. Blair, Cameron, et al, are not nearly as well-read as the politicians of the Wilson/Jenkins/Crossman era. Nowadays political vocabulary is a big box of ready-made phrases that can be snapped together in different formations like Lego bricks. But it would never include a word like "pragmatic". – Terpsichore Mar 24 '14 at 10:13
  • @EdwinAshworth: So this question is indeed a duplicate after all, but not so much for questions where the best answer is malapropism. The unfortunate thing is that this kind of question is difficult to find via search unless you already know the answer. The duplicate linked above is definitely not the best match for this question. Better matches would be this or this. – John Y Mar 24 '14 at 15:32
  • @John Y Yes; I almost put in the hedge 'You need to have taken part in 3 years' worth of discussions before you can take part in a discussion properly'. I haven't got the answer to this problem. One probably has to do a reasonable search and then post as if there is no previous treatment, accepting that people who've been around >x years but still have >y neurons will detect and flag dupes. It's nothing to lose sleep over ;-) – Edwin Ashworth Mar 24 '14 at 16:38
  • Yes, I'm waiting to spot a better example, and then I'll edit the question. It's definitely not a duplicate of the other question, or I'd have already marked an answer as correct. That might be the closest expression we have in the language for all I know, but it's not an exact match. – Amy Blankenship Mar 25 '14 at 00:27

2 Answers2

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Malapropism (or Dogberryism) is misuse of a word that sounds similar to another word that would have made sense.

See also: Bushisms.

Matt Eckert
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  • I don't think malapropism is exactly it, because often when I see or hear this there's not any relationship between the word used and any similar word that would have worked. For example, in the example I posted the person had picked up the mistaken idea somewhere along the line that supine means "to beg." – Amy Blankenship Mar 23 '14 at 20:23
  • To come to someone with your hand out certainly means to come asking for something. That figurative hand would certainly be in the supine position. I really don't understand what you are asking. A supine hand is certainly a hand in the begging position. – Michael Owen Sartin Mar 23 '14 at 21:06
  • I think it's clear that OP has chosen a poor example to illustrate her question. That said, if you can get past that and look at the substance of her question, it's just as clear that malapropism isn't what she's looking for. – John Y Mar 24 '14 at 02:39
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'Heterophemy' but if conative, 'framis'

Third News
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  • the term 'malapropism' is really a comedic device, and is based on the character 'Mrs. Malaprop' "noted for her ridiculous misuse of large words (e.g. contagious countries for contiguous countries" http://etymology.enacademic.com/22804/malapropism – Third News Mar 23 '14 at 20:55