Thursday, June 29, 2006

Fun with Words IV

I've been reading a bit of fluff called "The Bride of Anguished English" by Richard Lederer - it's basically a catalogue of mistakes and garbled English that have appeared in newspapers, church bulletins, transcripts of legal proceedings, students' essays, and so on. There is a section on "word botchers" - people who misspeak words without realizing it - like people who want a little piece of quiet for example. Here are some others from his book:

  • "The chapter committees meet at the desacration of the committee chairman"
  • "We have to deal seriously with this offense as a detergent to others"
  • "His ex-wife recieved a decease and desist order"
  • "He's a self-defacating person - that's why I admire him so much"
  • "please, someone stop that incestuous pounding!"
  • "They raised a great human cry"
  • "A fool and his money are some party"

As Richard Lederer says in his book: "These [...] malapropsims are not prefabrications. They are not pigments of the imagination."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very funny - I love this stuff!

Happy Owl said...

I knew you'd appreciate this!