100% Locally Owned, Independent and Free

100% Locally Owned, Independent and Free

Jane Stephens: I pronounce the mistakes all good fun

Do you have a news tip? Click here to send to our news team.

‘Strong inquiries’ for takeaway site following bakery rejection

A vacant fish and chip shop is up for lease following a failed attempt to transform the site into a bakery. Trading as a takeaway More

Fishers urged to avoid problem bait

Fishers are being reminded not to use raw imported prawns as bait, due to the risk of spreading a highly contagious virus affecting crustaceans. Raw More

Bigger and better: grocery store’s $3m expansion complete

A Sunshine Coast grocery store has been revamped with a fresh new look and an expanded range. White’s IGA Mooloolah underwent a 12-month $3 million More

Memories of Sunshine Coast uploaded to digital library

Thousands of images by a photographer who snapped people and places on the Sunshine Coast for more than 30 years are now available for More

B2B: Do you know how your Will works?

A person who makes a Will must have testamentary capacity. This means the person understands the nature and effect of making a Will and understands More

Photo of the day: lovely bunch

Prior to ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, Denis Ball spotted these coconuts on the sand built up in the Pumicestone Passage at Happy Valley. If you have More

Years ago, I arrived home after picking up some takeaway food and my flatmate declared with gusto: “I am glad you are home. I’m ravishing!”

Of course, she meant ‘ravenous’ and her misspeaking became one of my favourite word confusion stories.

Words are wonderful – loaded as they are with contextual meaning and complex messages.

Our living language expands and contracts as it breathes and grows within our life and times.

Like most word lovers, I embrace the new and repurposed but also chortle at misuse and misspeech.

Many of the funniest examples of misused words are malapropisms – verbal and sometimes written mistakes that involve similar-sounding words with different meanings, such as confusing ‘monogamy’ with ‘monotony’.

My friend recently admitted that she thought the ignition of a pile of branches was a ‘bond fire’ because friends tended to bond around the flames.

Examples are everywhere: a beginner level referred to as a ‘nervous class’; a shop that changed hands declaring it was “formally known as …”; a chatty, wriggly boy who was urged by his dad to “curve your enthusiasm”.

Corn chips with “quack-a-moal”. Picture: Shutterstock

A fellow on my bus expounded that evolution, the “survival of the fitness”, had stopped now that we have modern medicine. Another deep and meaningful snatch from two women’s public transport conversation observed that it is a “doggie-dog world”.

Mispronunciation is another source of simple delight. I heard a woman order “leh-zag-nee” at an Italian cafe once: lasagne has never sounded so inelegant.

And at a Mexican restaurant near my home, a young bloke asked for a side of “quack-a-moal” instead of guacamole.

The waiter was perplexed.

A teen girl once told me sadly that her mum had been diagnosed with “tattoo diabetes”. A student many years ago told me she had met my “double ganger” – someone who looked like me.

Personalised number plates are a fresh, fertile field for displays of word confusion. Last week, a female driver buzzed by me on Aerodrome Road, her plate declaring she was “to cute”.

Sometimes, it just takes one word – even an incorrectly used one – to brighten the cloudiest of days.

Dr Jane Stephens is a UniSC journalism lecturer, media commentator and writer.

Subscribe to SCN’s free daily news email

Hidden
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
[scn_go_back_button] Return Home
Share