{"id":244,"date":"2015-11-23T22:19:26","date_gmt":"2015-11-23T22:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/unccwrc\/?p=244"},"modified":"2015-11-23T22:19:26","modified_gmt":"2015-11-23T22:19:26","slug":"malapropismsor-why-reading-aloud-can-be-so-malevolently-beneficial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/unccwrc\/blog\/2015\/11\/23\/malapropismsor-why-reading-aloud-can-be-so-malevolently-beneficial\/","title":{"rendered":"Malapropisms\u2026or Why Reading Aloud can be so Malevolently Beneficial."},"content":{"rendered":"

The English language is a minefield.\u00a0 It\u2019s an obstacle course.\u00a0 It\u2019s full of trips and snares <\/em>just waiting for the right opportunity to twist our tongues and make us look foolish.\u00a0 There are so many pitfalls when writing and speaking, we\u2019ve even given them names and categorized them.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t believe me, keep reading.\u00a0 We\u2019ll cover just a few in this blog, starting with one of the most notorious (and incidentally, most entertaining): the malapropism.<\/p>\n

When we use malapropisms in everyday language, we might refer to them as a \u201cslip of the tongue\u201d when we speak, and sometimes a \u201cslip of the pen\u201d when we write.\u00a0 But malapropisms are really just a little trick of the mind where we replace one word (the right one) with another word (usually one that doesn\u2019t fit at all).<\/p>\n

LiteraryDevices.net recently gave the example of a very knowledgeable scientist being referred to as a<\/p>\n

\u201csuppository<\/em> of knowledge\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

rather than a repository<\/em> of knowledge.1<\/sup><\/p>\n

As you can see, malapropisms can be pretty funny, but in real world settings they can also be frustrating.\u00a0 And they can happen to anyone at any time.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

You may have even been in a classroom or read a paper where someone may have talked about a very \u201cpacific\u201d<\/em> issue that for all \u201cintensive<\/em> purposes\u201d was \u201csupposably<\/em>\u201d very important.<\/p>\n

And this very \u201cspecific<\/em>\u201d issue would have been better presented for all \u201cintents<\/em> and purposes\u201d if how important it \u201csupposedly<\/em>\u201d was had been a little clearer without the malapropisms.2<\/sup><\/p>\n

So what can be done to insure an unassuming college student won\u2019t fall into such a trap?\u00a0 Well, at the WRC, we\u2019d like to think we can help.\u00a0 We use techniques that have been developed for about as long as people have been replacing the right word with the wrong one.\u00a0 And studies have found them to be very effective.\u00a0 The one I\u2019d like to focus on today is one that if you\u2019ve visited the writing center, you\u2019ve probably encountered:\u00a0 Reading out loud.\u00a0 It\u2019s a useful tool when combating the verbal minefield.<\/p>\n

Of course, this minefield of mistakes and anomalies in our everyday wordification doesn\u2019t stop with malapropisms.\u00a0 Beyond the malapropism is the neologism<\/em>.\u00a0 And speaking of wordification<\/em>, that\u2019s exactly the kind of made-up word that would be a neologism.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s its cousin, the portmanteau<\/em>.\u00a0 This one is a combination or a blending of words to make a new word.\u00a0 Using this technique, we get words like smog<\/em> from the combination of smoke<\/em> and fog<\/em>.\u00a0 The neologism and the portmanteau are fairly benign compared to the malapropism and some of each are often regularly accepted into the lexicon of the English language.<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t make the obstacle course any easier to traverse, however.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u2026it\u2019s inconceivable<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"inigo-montoya\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I suppose not, Inigo.\u00a0 Inconceivable<\/em> in this case is just another malapropism.\u00a0 The word I was thinking of was more along the lines of confusing<\/em>, bewildering,<\/em> or perplexing<\/em>.\u00a0 Unfortunately, with the abundance of these sorts of traps in the English language, it\u2019s not even remotely inconceivable<\/em>.<\/p>\n

With such a treacherous jungle of words to navigate, it\u2019s no wonder writing centers recommend reading out loud.\u00a0 Its benefits include (but are by no means limited to) addressing the issue of malapropisms and other \u201cslips of the pen.\u201d<\/p>\n

So if a tutor in the writing center asked you to read out loud, don\u2019t panic or worry about this, and definitely don\u2019t let it stop you from taking advantage of a session at the writing center.\u00a0 If you\u2019re not comfortable with reading out loud, you don\u2019t have to do it.\u00a0 But know that reading aloud is a very useful way to literally hear<\/em> the tone of your paper (whether it\u2019s too formal or too casual, for example).<\/p>\n

Malapropisms and other lower level usage issues aside (though you will be able to hear those better too), you\u2019ll be able to better put yourself in the position of the reader and consider your audience\u2019s needs more carefully.<\/p>\n

If you do have the courage to read for your tutor, it helps us out as we act as an active member of your audience giving you our impressions and feedback on such issues as flow, content, clarity, and yes, even word misusage.\u00a0 Together you and your tutor can listen for proper transitions between ideas and any gaps that may need to be filled in your text.3<\/sup><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re curious, and you want to try out this theory, consider going back up to the top of this blog and reading the title out loud.\u00a0 If you missed it the first time, did you catch the malapropism this time? \u00a0I hope this blog helped, and I hope none of your writing experiences are malevolent<\/em> in any way.\u00a0 For more fun with language and literature, check out the WRC\u2019s Pinterest<\/a> and Twitter<\/a> pages, and for any issues you encounter in the writing process, we can help address and remedy those hiccups from malapropisms to structure and content.\u00a0 Book an appointment today.<\/p>\n

Happy writing!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Works Referenced<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. net <http:\/\/literarydevices.net\/malapropism\/<\/a>><\/li>\n
  2. com <http:\/\/www.grammarly.com\/blog\/2015\/8-embarrassing-yet-common-malapropisms\/<\/a>><\/li>\n
  3. The Writing Center at UNC Chapel Hill <http:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/handouts\/reading-aloud\/<\/a>><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The English language is a minefield.\u00a0 It\u2019s an obstacle course.\u00a0 It\u2019s full of trips and snares just waiting for the right opportunity to twist our tongues and make us look foolish.\u00a0 There are so many pitfalls when writing and speaking, we\u2019ve even given them names and categorized them.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t believe me, keep reading.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1083,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-updates"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5OMgn-3W","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/unccwrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/unccwrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/unccwrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/unccwrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1083"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/unccwrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/unccwrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/unccwrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions\/246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/unccwrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/unccwrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/unccwrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}