Malaprops and Other Near Misses

Malaprops, perhaps better known as “malapropisms,” are linguistic distortions such as “to languish praise” instead of “to lavish praise.” Malaprops sound similar to the intended formulation but have very different meanings (see Follett 187–89).

They are named after Mrs. Malaprop, a character in Richard Sheridan’s play The Rivals (first performed in 1775). The name comes from the French mal à propos, which means literally “ill-suited for the purpose.” Her first line in the play contains the very first “malaprop” to bear that name: “But the point we would request of you is, that you will promise to forget this fellow—to illiterate him, I say, quite from your memory.” Mrs. Malaprop meant to say “obliterate” instead of the similar-sounding but very different “illiterate.” 

Sometimes grouped under the rubric of the malaprop is the so-called eggcorn. The name derives from the potential mishearing of “acorn” as “eggcorn,” which makes a kind of sense: acorns are egg-shaped after all. Eggcorns are formulations such as “I could care less” for “I couldn’t care less” and “for all intensive purposes” instead of “for all intents and purposes.” An eggcorn, unlike a traditional malaprop, actually makes some sense in context, but it still doesn’t convey the intended meaning (Kramer).

The Internet is certainly awash with humorous eggcorns, which are perhaps often intentional. One finds people who are “a gasp” instead of “aghast,” or who are being “mellow dramatic” instead of “melodramatic.” And that’s all fine and good for Reddit, but encountering these phrases in formal prose would be distracting and confusing.

And indeed some eggcorns are so subtle that they do find their way in to formal academic writing. A good example of this is the phrase “levied a charge.” The more accepted usage is “leveled a charge,” which sounds similar but makes more sense. To “levy” something typically means to impose or collect something by legal authority, as in “levy a tax.” To “level” means to aim or direct something at something else. In this sense, “level a charge” makes more sense, but still the idea of “levying” or “imposing” a charge on someone is somewhat plausible. Then again, instead of saying “they leveled [or levied] a charge of fraud at the CEO,” why not just say “they charged the CEO with fraud”? Scrutinizing your prose for malaprops and eggcorns can often help you find a more direct way of saying something.

Malaprops can be hard to spot in your own writing if you’re not familiar with the accepted usage. One way to guard against the unintentional malaprop is to interrogate your use of set phrases or fixed idioms. By this I mean phrases that you may have heard before and that leap readily to mind when you can’t think of an original phrase of your own. If one of these phrases sounds a bit odd to you, or if you’re just not sure what the right formulation is, look it up in a dictionary or some other authoritative guide.

Especially in formal or professional writing, malaprops can undermine your argument and make readers question your writerly acumen. For this reason it’s a good idea to be extremely virulent against them.¹ 

Editor’s Note

1. Or rather, “extremely vigilant against them.” We sincerely beget the unfortunate error.

Works Cited

Follett, Wilson. Modern American Usage: A Guide. Rev. by Erik Wensberg, Hill and Wang, 1998.

Kramer, Lindsay. “What Is a Malapropism? Definitions and Examples.” Grammarly, 6 Dec. 2023, www.grammarly.com/blog/literary-devices/what-is-a-malapropism/.

Sheridan, Richard. The Rivals. 1775. Project Gutenberg, 2021, www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/24761/pg24761-images.html.