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I'm trying to find an idiom with knowingly misleading words. For example, consider guinea pig: this animal definitely is not a pig, and its origin is not Guinea. Both words are misleading. In Russian it is called not "guinea pig" but a "sea pig" (if translate the name to English literally), and again: both words are misleading, and that has become some sort of an idiom of giving wrong names to entities. In English however, as an idiom "guinea pig" means somewhat different (a subject to an experiment), so I wish to find an English way to express the nonsense of giving misleading names.

Update: I don't need the name of this term. I have a practical purpose of using an idiom where it is clear to a native speaker that each word it consist of is a misnomer.

Heartspring
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Dmitry Kuzminov
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    Seeing as @user405662 has suggested "misnomer" and based on your comment to that answer, could you clarify - are you looking for an example of a deliberate misnomer? (Rather than the word 'misnomer' itself) – komodosp Apr 26 '23 at 10:19
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    @komodosp, I'm looking for an example of a misnomer that native speakers would understand. For example, if I would say (in Russian) "guinea pig", Russian speakers most likely would understand that I mean the idiom where both words are misleading. I'm looking something similar in English – Dmitry Kuzminov Apr 26 '23 at 12:55
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    This may be tricky, because most people don't really think about the constituents of idioms. By definition an idiom means something different from the literal words. – Barmar Apr 26 '23 at 14:15
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    There are probably lots of animal names that fit. A prairie dog isn't a dog, although I assume it is found on prairies. – Barmar Apr 26 '23 at 14:17
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    But English speakers understand guinea pig, whether it's the animal or the metaphorical use meaning a test subject. Why won't this do as your example? – Kate Bunting Apr 26 '23 at 14:27
  • Because the "guinea pig" idiom is about test subject, but I need to get an idiom for a misnomer: something where each word is misused, and everybody knows that. A "mock turtle" that in known to be beef. – Dmitry Kuzminov Apr 26 '23 at 14:32
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    Does this answer your question? Term for words that appear to mean something that they don't? – Edwin Ashworth Apr 26 '23 at 16:27
  • @EdwinAshworth, no, I don't need the name of the term -- I need an English idiom that can express what I mean. – Dmitry Kuzminov Apr 26 '23 at 16:45
  • Most idioms are fixed phrases that use words or longer strings in non-standard ways, with odd senses (the rest use extragrammatical structures). That's what idioms are. In essence, then, you want an idiom saying that idioms are nonsensical? – Edwin Ashworth Apr 26 '23 at 16:58
  • @EdwinAshworth, the name "sea pig" (literal translation of the name of guinea pig from Russian) has become an idiom just because we know that guinea pig doesn't live in the sea even though the name says that. We even have cartoon jokes of someone [mistakenly] putting guinea pigs live in an aquarium. So if I see an absurd misleading name I can use the idiom "sea pig" to make this absurd clear. I'm looking for a similar idiom in English that can be used in a similar context. – Dmitry Kuzminov Apr 26 '23 at 17:07
  • There is a word, mumpsimus, not all that common, with the definition 'a traditional custom or idea adhered to although shown to be unreasonable' [Oxford Languages]. And another, 'mondegreen': 'A mondegreen is a word or phrase [a portmanteau/mangling] that results from mishearing or misinterpreting a statement or song lyric. Mondegreens are also known as oronyms.' [Nordquist; ThoughtCo. But all covered here before. As are mangled metaphors. – Edwin Ashworth Apr 26 '23 at 18:24
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    @EdwinAshworth why almost everyone tries to answer a wrong question (not the one I was asking) even after I added a clarification? Look at Barmar's comment: "The OP isn't looking for a term for this phenomenon, they want a good example of it." – Dmitry Kuzminov Apr 26 '23 at 18:34
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    @DmitryKuzminov early you used the term "guinea pig" as an example of what you mean by an idiom. But "guinea pig" is not an idiom (the way the word idiom is normally used in English). It's just the name of a kind of animal. So we might think that you are mixing up the distinction (which might be different in English from in your first language) between an idiom and a word or phrase. – The Photon Apr 26 '23 at 18:48
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    Chinese checkers is another example. The game is not of Chinese origin and is not related to the game checkers. (It’s officially called Sternhalma.) – Wyck Apr 26 '23 at 20:07

6 Answers6

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Could you be looking for misnomer?

Collins Dictionary gives:

If you say that a word or name is a misnomer, you mean that it describes something incorrectly.

Herbal 'tea' is something of a misnomer because these drinks contain no tea at all.

However, I doubt misnomers are intended to be deliberately misleading; the names just stick for various reasons.

This is different from misinformation where the information provided is deliberately misleading.

Again, Collins gives:

Misinformation is wrong information which is given to someone, often in a deliberate attempt to make them believe something which is not true.

user405662
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There's a whole class of terms, insults really, which consist of a nationality or city combined with a noun or verb. Since the British were rivals of the Dutch in the empire game, there are a number which target that nationality. For example, Dutch Treat (not a treat at all, you pay for your own meal) and Dutch Courage (alcohol, so not really courage). We also have French Letter (a condom), Welsh rabbit (not rabbit, or even meat, and perhaps not Welsh).

The term "Sweetbreads" (pituitary and thymus glands) is misleading to modern English speakers (not bread, and only somewhat sweet), but the name is very old and perhaps not deliberately misleading.

I'm not sure there is a clear-cut example that most English speakers would instantly recognize as exactly fitting your description. For example, I'm aware of Kate Bunting's example, but the quote attributed to Voltaire doesn't spring to mind instantly upon reading "Holy Roman Empire".

Spehro Pefhany
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    "welsh rabbit" is a mis-hearing/mis-saying - the actual dish is 'Welsh rarebit' - more commonly known as - 'Cheese on toast'. – Charemer Apr 27 '23 at 09:44
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    @Charemer: Not according to Wikipedia: 'Rabbit and rarebit: The word rarebit is a corruption of rabbit, "Welsh rabbit" being first recorded in 1725, and "rarebit" in 1781.' Endorsements from Brander Matthews (1892) (' ... few [writers] are as ignorant and dense as the unknown unfortunate who first tortured the obviously jocular Welsh rabbit into a pedantic and impossible Welsh rarebit ...), Sivert N. Hagen , Ambrose Bierce (1911) & H.W. Fowler. – Edwin Ashworth May 08 '23 at 10:24
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You could call it a "parkway/driveway situation".

This references the question "Why do we park on the driveway and drive on the parkway?" I've seen this attributed to several comedians, most plausibly to George Carlin.

This isn't an idiom, as I've never heard anyone else use the phrase "parkway/driveway situation", but it does reference a well-known idiom (the musing of the comedian).

The Photon
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  • That expression seems to be specific to North America, as ‘parkway’ isn't used that way elsewhere. (In British English, it usually refers to a railway station with extensive parking/park-and-ride facilities.) – gidds Apr 26 '23 at 21:52
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Perhaps these wouldn't be readily recognised as misnomers, because they are so common, but consider:

  • A butterfly -- not a fly, and isn't made of or produces butter.
  • A jellyfish -- not a fish at all, and isn't made of jelly.
  • An English horn is a woodwind instrument originating from Silesia (currently in Poland).
  • A Jerusalem artichoke -- a kind of sunflower native to North America (and you eat the roots, not flower buds).
mustaccio
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  • The childish spoonerism "Flutterby" is more apt than the real name, but at leats butterflies fly. And a jellyfish has a jelly-like consistency and swims in the sea as do fish; shellfish aren't fish either. – Chris H Apr 27 '23 at 08:30
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Maybe a modest proposal? In idiomatic usage, describing something as a "modest proposal" can generally be taken to mean that it's a ridiculous joke or an unreasonable demand made in bad faith. It takes its name from Jonathan Swift's satirical essay proposing cannibalism as a solution to Irish poverty. From Britannica:

The essay is a masterpiece of satire, with a blend of rational deliberation and unthinkable conclusion, and its title has come to symbolize any proposition to solve a problem with an effective but outrageous cure.

That said, it's not a totally ubiquitous idiom. Someone unfamiliar with the satirical origin of the phrase may read it at face value instead of with the intentionally deprecating intent.

A_M
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I believe the best term for this is a "Red Herring".

A Red Herring is something that distracts from the real meaning/ real issue. For example, sometimes in a mystery novel the author might add some seemingly innocuous detail that grabs the reader's attention. This might distract them from deducing the real facts of the case.

In the case of naming/labelling a Red Herring would be a label given with the purpose of diverting from an item's actual usage or origin.

Black
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