Where it sits
The absurdity is required. A near-miss that still makes sense is just a mistake.
Tell it apart
| Aspect | Malapropism | Mondegreen |
|---|---|---|
| Error occurs in | The speaker | The listener |
| Produces | A wrong word | A wrong phrase |
| Speaker knows | No | n/a |
| Named after | A character, 1775 | A mishearing, 1954 |
A malapropism is a SPEAKER using the wrong word. A mondegreen is a LISTENER hearing the wrong words. Same acoustic confusion, opposite end of the transmission — and only one of them is embarrassing.
What it doesn't mean
He named it, by writing a character memorable enough to become a common noun. Shakespeare's constable DOGBERRY was doing the same thing in Much Ado About Nothing around 1598 — roughly 180 years earlier — which is why 'Dogberryism' survives as an alternative term.
It requires a SIMILAR-SOUNDING substitution that produces a nonsensical or absurd result. Using a word wrongly but plausibly is a different error. The comedy depends on the wrong word being audibly close to the right one and semantically nowhere near it.
What it really means
The word comes from a fictional person, who was named after a French phrase, which is a two-step coinage almost no other technical term can claim.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan wrote The Rivals in 1775 and gave it Mrs Malaprop — a character forever reaching for impressive long words and landing, with total confidence, on the wrong ones. She describes someone as the very pineapple of politeness. She wants a young woman to be comprehending rather than apprehending. The name comes from French mal à propos: inappropriate, ill-suited to the purpose.
The character was memorable enough that her surname became a common noun, which is a rare fate.
But Sheridan did not invent the device. Shakespeare's constable Dogberry, in Much Ado About Nothing around 1598, does precisely the same thing — roughly 180 years earlier, and with the same comic engine. Which is why Dogberryism survives as an alternative name, used mainly by people who want to point out that Sheridan got the credit for something older.
The requirement people miss is that the substitution must produce something absurd. A wrong word that still roughly works is just an error. A malapropism needs the wrong word to be audibly close to the right one and semantically nowhere near it — pineapple for pinnacle, flamingo for flamenco, allegory for alligator.
And the real comic engine is not the mistake. It is the confidence.
Mrs Malaprop is never hesitant. She is not fumbling for a word she half-knows. She is reaching deliberately for an impressive one, in order to be heard as impressive, and landing with total assurance on something ridiculous. The joke is about aspiration, which is why it stays funny and slightly cruel two hundred and fifty years later.
Where it comes from
a character in Sheridan's play The Rivals (1775)
French — inappropriate, ill-suited to the purpose
Sheridan named the character after the French phrase, and the character then named the device — a two-step coinage that ended with a fictional person's surname becoming a technical term.
- 1775
Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals introduces Mrs Malaprop, whose speech is studded with confidently misapplied long words.
- around 1598–99
Shakespeare's Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing does the same thing roughly 180 years earlier, which is why 'Dogberryism' exists as an alternative name.
In real life
- Mrs Malaprop in Sheridan's The Rivals (1775) describes a stubborn girl as being as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile. She means an alligator.
- Shakespeare's constable Dogberry, in Much Ado About Nothing (Act 3, Scene 5), reports that the watch have comprehended two aspicious persons. He means apprehended two suspicious ones.
- 'Don't worry, it's all water under the fridge,' he said cheerfully, and nobody at the table could keep a straight face.
Questions
Q01Who was Mrs Malaprop?
A character in Sheridan's 1775 comedy The Rivals, who reaches constantly for impressive long words and lands, with total confidence, on the wrong ones. Sheridan named her from the French mal à propos, 'inappropriate'.
Q02Did Sheridan invent the device?
No — he named it. Shakespeare's Dogberry, in Much Ado About Nothing around 1598, was doing the same thing roughly 180 years earlier, which is why 'Dogberryism' exists as an alternative name.
Q03What makes it funny rather than just wrong?
The confidence. Mrs Malaprop is not hesitant. The comedy lies in a person reaching deliberately for an impressive word and landing, with total assurance, on a ridiculous one.