« I tasted the whole worm »
2005-03-09 · 6:28 p.m.

I was telling Jane about this some time ago, but since she's not around at this exact moment for me to crow at I will have to set it in internet stone for the whole world to see. People, let's talk about malapropisms. I can't say anything too strong about most of 'em because I'm just as guilty and trigger-tongued as anyone else, from day to day; on Monday I said so-and-so was what's-his-face's wife-in-law when I meant sister-in-law. However, I honestly think there's a difference between general slips and purposeful mangling, which is what I hear every day at Smith College for Smart Ladies (gag). No one is content to leave a word alone. It just doesn't sound smart enough. Ladies from all walks of life (but each of them smart and empowering to girls, I hasten to assure you) will take a perfectly good word, poke at it, and proceed to hang an extra prefix, unnecessary French pronounciation, etc. thither and yon. It's like putting a strap-on on a man with a 12 incher--just a waste ! Today a girl in my Modern Judaism class gave me a classic example. She was talking about the mass migration of Jews from Eastern Europe to America and wanted to say their emigration was motivated by "despair", but "despair" didn't sound quite smart enough, so she turned it into "disparity" without realizing that that is its own word and that it means something totally different. I had to surrender a little bit of love to my professor because she basically said, out loud, exactly what I was thinking poisonously to myself. HA ! It almost made being in school FOREVER bearable (almost).

So that was my day. How was yours?

ps. Sorry for all the bold! I was feeling passionate