Author Topic: Malapropisms (Read 2830 times)

hellymedic · « **on:** July 19, 2012, 04:27:18 PM »

From BBC News today.

<Stuff about Kate meeting oldest Olympic torchbearer>

<<Born in 1912, the centurion runs exercise classes in the retirement flats where she lives three times a week.
Mrs Gould's picture is now hanging in the National Portrait Gallery.>>

I suppose these are the khaki games...

hellymedic · « **Reply #1 on:** July 19, 2012, 04:35:00 PM »

Later, in the same feature...

<<Among those photographed for the exhibition are the men's rowing eight, taekwondo fighter Jade Jones, London Mayor Boris Johnson and Turner Prize-winning artist Anish Kapoor, who co-created the ArcelorMittal Orbit sculptor at the Olympic Park>>

Oh dear...

a lower gear · « **Reply #2 on:** July 19, 2012, 08:48:30 PM »

Colleague after comment about him appearing to be day-dreaming: "I was in a mind of my own!"

Arch · « **Reply #3 on:** July 19, 2012, 09:04:47 PM »

A workmate remarked the other day that she had the memory of a sieve.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #4 on:** July 19, 2012, 09:21:49 PM »

One of our managers constantly goes on about the core tenants of his strategy. I assume their rent pays the project costs, or something.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #5 on:** July 19, 2012, 09:23:39 PM »

Our girls like infatuated milk, the stuff out of cans.

Polar Bear · « **Reply #6 on:** July 19, 2012, 09:56:55 PM »

My ex f-i-l claimed to know many effluent people.

a lower gear · « **Reply #7 on:** July 19, 2012, 10:09:11 PM »

A friend likes to use the expression "Let's get this ship on the road!"

I occasionally use the expression "Is the bear a catholic?" to see if listeners think of the corollary...

Wascally Weasel · « **Reply #8 on:** July 19, 2012, 10:15:04 PM »

Quote from: a lower gear on July 19, 2012, 10:09:11 PM

A friend likes to use the expression "Let's get this ship on the road!"

I occasionally use the expression "Is the bear a catholic?" to see if listeners think of the corollary...

I use "Is the Pope a Nazi?" in similar circumstances.

Bledlow · « **Reply #9 on:** July 19, 2012, 10:29:47 PM »

Quote from: a lower gear on July 19, 2012, 10:09:11 PM

I occasionally use the expression "Is the bear a catholic?" to see if listeners think of the corollary...

I know someone who uses it.

Tim Hall · « **Reply #10 on:** July 19, 2012, 11:10:31 PM »

Ob cycling: a colleague when discussing a change of plan said ' we don't want to go off at a tandem'. Bless.

Jaded · « **Reply #11 on:** July 19, 2012, 11:45:32 PM »

I'Ve been in a few meetings where we discuss Pacific matters.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #12 on:** July 20, 2012, 06:46:10 AM »

How many meetings have you attended where "Charterhouse" rules apply?

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #13 on:** July 20, 2012, 12:15:48 PM »

Not quite a Malapropism:

"We're neighbours, I live here and she lives in Nigeria."

(He meant Jamaica Street!)

snail · « **Reply #14 on:** July 20, 2012, 04:16:58 PM »

My dad comes out with a few. Apparently one of my cousins had terrible skin trouble as a child. Sore and itching. Eskimo all over his body.

He also told me about a woman he knew who kept eating and throwing up; she had bulgaria.

Wobbly John · « **Reply #15 on:** July 20, 2012, 04:34:52 PM »

The yard foreman where I used to work was famous for it:

He used to ask us, in the labs, for 'disturbed water' for the truck battery.

When he decided that the tea room needed painting, he sent someone to get a tin of 'Mongolian convulsion paint'

(Magnolia emulsion paint)

orienteer · « **Reply #16 on:** July 20, 2012, 05:58:01 PM »

Non-ferocious metals

And "nucular" for nuclear - seems to have caught on since George Bush jnr started it, the man who had his finger on the button

rogerzilla · « **Reply #17 on:** July 20, 2012, 07:09:00 PM »

I particularly despise bikes with "peddles". Strictly speaking that's not a malapropism since it sounds EXACTLY the same as "pedals", but "I was peddling my bike" suggests that the owner was attempting to flog it in Brick Lane.

Wobbly John · « **Reply #18 on:** July 20, 2012, 07:16:30 PM »

I just remembered an Physics exam answer at our school a few years ago: "Genetic energy".

clarion · « **Reply #19 on:** July 20, 2012, 07:18:08 PM »

Peddling along till they use their breaks, of course...

Basil · « **Reply #20 on:** July 20, 2012, 07:20:04 PM »

A girl friend pre Mrs B. during a light grumble argument. "You're not being very supple."

Wowbagger · « **Reply #21 on:** July 20, 2012, 07:21:56 PM »

Quote from: Basil on July 20, 2012, 07:20:04 PM

A girl friend pre Mrs B. during a light grumble argument. "You're not being very supple."

Ah, but what were you doing apart form having a light grumble argument? Or is that a grumble / argument about whether you keep the light on or not? And what position were you attempting at the time?

Basil · « **Reply #22 on:** July 20, 2012, 07:25:33 PM »

Kim · « **Reply #23 on:** July 20, 2012, 07:44:35 PM »

Quote from: Wobbly John on July 20, 2012, 04:34:52 PM

When he decided that the tea room needed painting, he sent someone to get a tin of 'Mongolian convulsion paint'

As a member of the generation doomed to private rented accommodation for all eternity, I shall be making good use of that.

snail · « **Reply #24 on:** July 20, 2012, 07:52:01 PM »

Oh yes. Doing supply teaching in a rough school, helpfully marking 30 Year 8 biology tests in my lunch hour (because spending time with the lab techs in their little cubby hole was preferable to entering the Staff Room Of Hell.)
Question: Where is sperm made?
28 answers: testacals
1 answer: testagones
1 answer: ~~testa~~...~~testi~~...~~testta~~....balls.