Malapropism
- “what is a malapropism”
- “malapropism examples”
- “who was mrs malaprop”
- “malapropism vs mondegreen”
:: COMPARE ::
MalapropismvsMondegreen
The short answer
A malapropism is a SPEAKER using the wrong word. A mondegreen is a LISTENER hearing the wrong words. Same acoustic confusion, opposite end of the transmission — and only one of them is embarrassing.
Side by side
| Aspect | Malapropism | Mondegreen |
|---|---|---|
| Error occurs in | The speaker | The listener |
| Produces | A wrong word | A wrong phrase |
| Speaker knows | No | n/a |
| Named after | A character, 1775 | A mishearing, 1954 |
Which one you meant
Readers who land here meaning Malapropism rather than Mondegreen are usually searching for phrases like “what is a malapropism”, “malapropism examples”, “who was mrs malaprop”.
Mondegreen
- “what is a mondegreen”
- “misheard lyrics word”
- “who coined mondegreen”
- “lady mondegreen”
Which came first
Malapropism. around 1598–99 — Shakespeare's Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing does the same thing roughly 180 years earlier, which is why 'Dogberryism' exists as an alternative name.
- around 1598–99MalapropismShakespeare's Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing does the same thing roughly 180 years earlier, which is why 'Dogberryism' exists as an alternative name.
- 1954MondegreenSylvia Wright coins the word in Harper's Magazine, describing how as a child she misheard a line of the ballad 'The Bonny Earl of Murray'.
Read either one in full