MALAPROPISMS XXIV

The Word's The Thing

Dr. Louis D. Appel

Identify the malapropism in each sentence and supply the correct word.

1. The situation was out of your control. You were a victim of circus pants.

2. A person who speaks several languages is an ocelot.

3. Starboard, port, lee, and windward are natural terms.

4. This room is not nearly felonious enough to accommodate 100 people.

5. "I'm vanquished!" I could eat a horse!

6. The practice of horticulture, pricking the skin with needles to relieve pain. originated in China.

7. Jane is bubbling over with enthusiasm, as resilient as ever.

8. There are some very important people seated on the raise.

9. His taste in music was electric - including baroque, jazz, and opera.

10. Their close relationship did not involve romance. It was purely bubonic.

Answers:

 

1. circus pants - circumstance

2. ocelot - polygot

3. natural - nautical

4. felonious - commodious

5. vanquished - famished

6. horticulture - acupuncture

7. resilient - ebullient

8. raise - dias

9. electric - eclectic

10. bubonic - Platonic