malapropisms

     A malapropism is using the wrong word--particularly a long and "fancy" word that sounds something like another word, but means something completely different. A character in a play, one Mrs. Malaprop, gave her fictional name to this type of error. One place you can hear malapropisms is TV. I mean the reruns currently playing of the 1970's "All in the Family" series. Archie Bunker, the bigot who learns to get along with people, uses a lot of malapropisms--and is rarely corrected by the other characters on the show. The creators of the show obviously meant to display just how ignorant a bigot can be--but this has misfired, at least for part of the show's audience, who miss the malapropisms and think that Archie is intelligent because he uses long words.
     Another 1970's show, "Sanford and Son", has also been playing recently. Fred Sanford, also something of a bigot, uses malapropisms, too. His errors are usually corrected by another character. Perhaps the creators of this show had already learned that this might be necessary, as some of the "All in the Family" audience had missed the point.