play mrs malaprop
Words at Play

What is a malaprop?

Editor Peter Sokolowski will tell you all the perpendiculars


A malapropism, or malaprop, is the usually unintentionally humorous misuse or distortion of a word or phrase, especially the use of a word sounding somewhat like the one intended but ludicrously wrong in context—like polo bears instead of polar bears.

Up next

play mrs malaprop
What is a malaprop?

 

We'll tell you all the perpendiculars

play video websters video of 1864
Webster's Dictionary of 1864

 

The landmark edition that transformed the way dictionaries are made.

play how to read a french menu video
How to Read a French Menu

 

How to 'amuse-bouche' without begging pardon for your French

play video schwa
The Schwa

 

The most common vowel sound in English causes many spelling problems.

play serial comma
The Serial Comma Explained

 

Why don't they call it the Merriam-Webster comma?

play video title attorney generals
Is It 'Attorney Generals' Or 'Attorneys General'?

 

'Poets laureate'? 'Court-martials'? The curious history of postpositive adjectives in English.

play video title words of the year 1066
Words of the Year: 1066

 

English was never the same after the Norman Conquest