Malaproper

The distinguishing characteristic of the Malaproper is that they constantly replace words with similar-sounding but wrong ones. A common form of this is for the Malaproper to mangle proverbs, idioms, and other figures of speech. They may use overly complicated synonyms that make them sound wrong; e.g., "The cat's out of the bag" becomes "The feline has been released from the sack!" Alternatively, they may use words that sound almost right — "Let's get this shoe on the toad!" for "Let's get this show on the road!" They may also nonsensically combine figures of speech ("You can't cross the same river without breaking a few eggs"). (See Mixed Metaphor.) This character will sometimes be corrected, not that this does any good. The term "malaproper" comes from "malapropism", a reference to Mrs. Malaprop, a character from the 1775 play The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan whose name, in turn, is derived from malapropos, an adjective or adverb meaning "inappropriate" or "inappropriately". Mrs. Malaprop's name and character were based on the idea of making malapropos statements. (Although the trope can be found in earlier works — for instance, it is also exemplified by Sergeant Dogberry in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.) Injuries to certain parts of the brain can produce aphasia, loss of speech or speech impediment. Damage to Broca's Area can cause a complete inability to form words at all, while damage to Wernicke's Area can produce complete loss of comprehensible speech (the words come out okay but don't mean anything in relation to each other). This is one cause of malapropism. That and liquor. Another very rare condition — proxyglossoriasis — (according to the Duckman television show) has the sufferer replace the intended word with a nearby word in the dictionary. The effect is often hysterical. Often used by those speaking Poirot Speak. Can also be used to indicate one who is Raised by Wolves, an Alien Speaking English, or else a Cloudcuckoolander, whose sense of reality isn't affected (or effected, as the case may be) by actual reality. May be used to set up an Expospeak Gag. Compare and contrast with Delusions of Eloquence, Blunt Metaphors Trauma, Freudian Slip, [Popular Saying], But..., and My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels. Compare and contrast also with the Spoonerism, where the first letter or syllable is transposed for comedy effect. If the speaker uses the apparently correct words instead but gets hopelessly lost in their train of thought, that's Metaphorgotten. If using the wrong word is the result of mishearing the correct word, that's a Mondegreen Gag. Rouge Angles of Satin is this trope in written form. See here for a self-demonstrating version of this page.