different between misnaming vs malapropism

English

Noun

misnaming (plural misnamings)

1. The act of calling something by its wrong name

Verb

misnaming

1. present participle of misname

English

Etymology

From the name of Mrs. Malaprop, a character in the play The Rivals (1775) by Richard Brinsley Sheridan + -ism. As dramatic characters in English comic plays of this time often had allusive names, it is likely that Sheridan fashioned the name from malapropos (“inappropriate”). Mrs. Malaprop is perhaps the best-known example of a familiar comedic character archetype who unintentionally substitutes inappropriate but like-sounding words that take on a ludicrous meaning when used incorrectly.

The name Mrs. Malaprop itself comes from French mal à propos which means improperly, amiss, or ill-timed.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?mæl?p??p?z?m/
• (US) enPR: m?l??-prä-p?z-?m, IPA^(key): /?mæl?p???p?z?m/

Noun

malapropism (countable and uncountable, plural malapropisms)

1. (uncountable) The blundering use of an absurdly inappropriate word or expression in place of a similar-sounding one.

   The script employed malapropism to great effect.

2. (countable) An instance of this; malaprop.

   The translator matched every malapropism in the original with one from his own language.

   The humor comes from all the malapropisms.

Synonyms

• (instance of malapropism): malaprop, catachresis

Translations

See also

• Examples of malapropisms
• eggcorn
• folk etymology
• mondegreen
• spoonerism