节目资讯
刊物:空中英語教室
日期:2012-02-15
难易度:Medium
关键字:affluence, alphabetical, driveway, cargo
(Music).
Hi, friends.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
Thanks for joining us.
My name is Steve.
And it's good to see you, Kaylah, back here in the studio.
Well, I wouldn't miss it.
Well, today we're going to continue talking about English.
You know, I've been speaking English for over 20 years,
and I'm still running into mysteries of the language that I don't think I'll
ever fully understand, much less explain.
I know what you mean, Steve.
For example, why when a house burns up, it also burns down?
Or when you fill in a form, you're also filling it out?
Exactly. And why does an alarm clock go off when it goes on?
So it really helps to be flexible and have a good sense of humor when you're
studying this crazy language.
Otherwise, you might go crazy yourself.
OK, everyone. We've looked at the pun and the spoonerism.
It's now time to look at the malapropism.
Well, join us on page 29.
(Music).
Funny English.
Another type of play on words is called a malapropism.
It was named after Mrs. Malaprop, a comic character from a play by Richard
Sheridan.
She had a bad habit of confusing words like affluence and influence.
Of course, she's not the only one.
Many famous people get their words mixed up.
Take Casey Stengel, the well-known baseball manager.
He once asked his players to line up in alphabetical order according to their
size.
And what about the movie producer Samuel Goldwyn, who once said he read part of
a book all the way through!
(Music).
Hello, friends.
Thank you for joining us in the studio.
My name is Ryan.
And I'm Kaylah. And I'm enjoying learning about the humor of English.
For example, Ryan, a pun that I use with my name is "My name is Kaylah," but I
like to tell people "I'm OK la" because I'm OK, right?
Exactly. Of course, in Chinese they might use that phrase "OK la," and so it's
very funny in both English and in Chinese.
That's right. It's a joke that can cross both.
And it's definitely a pun.
Well, another one... another type of joke is a type of playing on words and is
called a malapropism.
Right, a malapropism, which I'll admit, is a word that is a little bit difficult
to say.
It might be a bit of a tongue twister.
That's right. Now malapropism is not a word we use in everyday language,
but it is good to know what it means because we do use the joke even if we don't
call it that all the time.
We use the joke in English all the time.
Yes, and many people do use malapropisms.
And now I think it's important for us to let you know they are usually a little
bit higher level.
These jokes usually use bigger words.
Now it... how did this... how did these malapropisms, Kaylah, start?
Well, the word malapropism is weird, so we need to look at where it came from.
Well, it was named after Mrs. Malaprop... Malaprop, which is kind of like a
spoonerism from yesterday.
We learned that spoonerisms come from a man named Dr. Spooner.
Well, malapropisms come from Mrs. Malaprop.
OK. Now we see here that she was a comic character from a play by Richard
Sheridan.
OK. So what does it mean that she was a comic character?
That means she was funny.
Yeah, that's right.
Now she was a character in this play.
That means she wasn't a real person.
This play was by Richard Sheridan; and so he created this funny character.
That's right. And this character would then be played by actresses.
And this character, her written lines all use this type of problem, so we call
it a malapropism.
Exactly. And that's look at what a malapropism actually is.
We see here she had a bad habit of confusing words, for example, like affluence
with influence.
OK, so this is what a malapropism is: It's confusing words.
So we have affluence and influence.
Now the word "affluence" means you have a lot of money.
You are very, very rich.
But what does influence mean?
Well, influence means that you can persuade or cause people to do something.
So if you wanted to say someone has a lot of influence, it means that they can
get people to do things for them.
But instead, her character would end up saying: They have a lot of affluence.
That's right.
Now a lot of times these two do go together.
You would say an affluent person has good influence on different situations.
But here, it becomes a joke.
You know, of course, she's not the only one who does this, though.
Of course. Now many famous people get their words mixed up.
Now this is true.
I've seen it a lot of times, Kaylah.
It might even end up in the news.
That's right.
Before we talk about some of these famous um, people who've messed up words,
let's talk a little bit more about a malapropism.
We saw affluence and influence as an example.
Now Ryan, do you have any examples?
OK, I've got one for you.
For example, someone might want to hang up a picture.
But instead, they say: Oh, I'm going to hang up a pitcher.
Oops! A pitcher is the person who throws the ball in a baseball game.
So you don't want to hang a pitcher.
You want to hang a picture.
That's right. "Picture" is spelled P-I-C-T-U-R-E.
And the word "pitcher" is spelled P-I-T-C-H-E-R.
But they sound very close, and so it's easy to mix them up.
That's right.
Another one: Maybe you are at a restaurant and they ask you if you would like
pork or chicken.
And you said: I will have the kitchen.
Oops!
Now you didn't just say you wanted the entire kitchen.
She meant to order chicken.
So here this is another great example, Kaylah, of how you can mix up words in a
malapropism.
That's right.
So malapropisms... are definitely funny.
They tangle your tongue just like I had right now.
See? They are difficult to say.
Now here's some examples of famous people who are well-known for having
malapropisms.
Uh, here we see... Casey Stengel, who is a well-known baseball manager.
Now he is actually very famous for using malapropisms.
That's right.
Now he once asked his players to line up in alphabetical order according to
their size.
Whoa, wait a minute.
That doesn't work at all because "alphabetical" is referring to the order of the
letters in the alphabet.
So if you tell someone to line up alphabetically, it means by their name.
But here he says: Line up alphabetically according to your size.
Now "size" would mean who's tall, who's short, where they are in the height, or
maybe their weight level.
That's not alphabetical at all.
Alphabetical is referring to, well, the alphabet.
OK, how about another example?
What about the movie producer Samuel Goldwyn, who once said that he read part of
a book all the way through!
That doesn't work at all.
When we say we read a book all the way through, that means we've read the entire
book.
He said, "I read part, just a section, all the way through." That's not correct.
Not correct at all, but it certainly is funny.
Now for right now, let's go visit the Chat Room.
Wasn't that a great game last night?
Oh, yeah! I don't think I've ever watched such a close game before.
I mean, the score was pretty much even up to the last second.
I know! What a cliff dweller.
Uh, Ken, you mean a cliffhanger.
Oh, yeah, a cliffhanger.
Cliff dweller is someone who lives in a cliff.
Right. Nice malapropism there, Ken.
Uh, mala... what?
Malapropism. That's when you misuse a word by using one that sounds similar to
it.
Well, in that case, I have lots of malapropism stories I can tell you.
I remember when I first came to America, I went to a restaurant and ordered a
salad.
And I asked the server to put some neutrons on it.
Oh, you meant croutons.
Yeah, it was pretty embarrassing.
And just recently, my neighbor bought a new SUV, but I made the mistake of
asking him how he enjoyed his new USB.
Oh, I think you've spent too much time on the computer, Ken.
Well, it's either that or English has too many words that sound alike.
Don't worry, Ken.
Even native speakers commit malapropisms.
A co-worker once made the comment that something was beyond his apprehension.
It should be comprehension, right?
That's right.
Both words sound alike, but they have totally different meanings.
Just remember, the more you use your English, the less likely you'll make such
mistakes.
Right.
Perfect makes practice.
Uh, you want to try that again, Ken?
What?
Oh! Practice makes perfect.
There you go.