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Is there a technical name for the play on words where someone would substitute a word for a similar one (or add a common word to the end of one) in order to express their opinion about the subject in question?

For example:

  • Not being a fan of Facebook's privacy rules, and calling the site Facecrook instead
  • Feeling that people are too lazy to search before posting here, so calling this site "Slack Exchange"
  • Calling a Didgeridoo a "Didgeridont" because you can't stand the sound it makes

The closest things I could find were a "sniglet" and a "protologism", but I'm not sure if they're it. Any thoughts?

Grayda
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1 Answers1

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So, using the help of Google and some 45 minutes of research, I found that what you are looking for might be called an egg corn (eggcorn).

An egg corn or eggcorn is when you deliberately make a pun with an intended malapropism (all definitions will be at end of answer).

For example:

Lord of the Fries

Lord of the Fries is the name of a chips (or fries for you Americans out there) shop, with a name being based off of "Lord of the Flies".

By changing "flies" to "fries", they are making a malapropism, albeit it being intended.

Another example of this is (while continuing with the fish and chips theme):

The Codfather

This fish shop's name is a pun on the film "The Godfather".

Other examples are "Wok 'n' roll", "Pita Pan", and "Sew What?", being respectively similar to "Rock 'n' roll", "Peter Pan", and "So what?".

Definitions

A pun is a word or phrase with usually two meanings, although it can be more. Puns are intended to be funny.
An egg corn (eggcorn) on the other hand, is a pun with an intended malapropism, yet it is not intended to be funny. Essentially, it just "happens".
A malapropism is when you incorrectly substitute a word in, which has a similar sound, yet entirely different meanings. A Freudian slip seems to have a similar meaning.

And that should be it. I hope this was of at least some help to answering your question.

Community
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Klyzx
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  • I get that it's a pun and all, but why in the world does someone name their joint after Lord of the Flies? I already feel like getting my fries somewhere else. – Misha R Jun 21 '15 at 15:28
  • Lol, I don't know. There's a Lord of the Wings chicken shop too. – Klyzx Jun 21 '15 at 15:31
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    No, Facecrook is not an example of an eggcorn. Eggcorns are genuine mistakes which occur when a person mishears or misunderstands a word. The word "eggcorn" is a misunderstanding of the term acorn, if a person had never heard or knew what an acorn was, they will find the closest most logical (for them) equivalent. Facecrook is instead a deliberate caricature or play on words of the term Facebook. http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/54289/is-there-a-term-for-pejorative-parody-names-of-people-or-places – Mari-Lou A Jun 22 '15 at 08:03
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    Well, it was the best I could find to help the asker of the question. – Klyzx Jun 22 '15 at 10:58