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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.

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What is a malaprop?

 

We'll tell you all the perpendiculars

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Affect vs. Effect

 

Here's the lowdown on what may be the most confusing pair of words in the English language.

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Is there one standard way?

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The History of 'Cynic'

 

How an ancient philosophical movement devoted to the pursuit of virtue came to describe eye-rolling criticism.

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Old-School Grammar

 

Many of today's grammar rules can be traced to the opinions of one 18th century writer.

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'All Intensive Purposes' or 'All Intents and Purposes'?

 

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Games & Quizzes

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Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
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Add A Letter Quiz Pick the letter that goes in the same spot in fou...
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