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Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2009malapropisms of set phprases
The following sentences are from a novel. Windy's acquaintances and colleague had long since stopped correcting Windy's malapropisms ...... This was maddening to Hammer, who was repeatedly subjected to her staff writing off into the sunset or accusing someone of marching to a different color. (Isle of Dogs, p31, by P.Cornwell) context: Winder is a secretary to Hammer, state police superintendent. Windy always say various things about her female boss by using set phrases wrongly. question: about 1) write into the sunset 2) march to a different color These must be examples of Windy's malapropisms. So do you know their original phrases from where these are supposed to come? > question: about 1) write into the sunset 2) march to a different > color > These must be examples of Windy's malapropisms. So do you know their > original phrases from where these > are supposed to come? Yes. They are "ride off into the sunset" and "march to a different drum" (confused with "horse of a different colour").  SignatureOnline waterways route planner: http://canalplan.org.uk development version: http://canalplan.eu > The following sentences are from a novel. > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > original phrases from where these > are supposed to come? Ride into the sunset. It's what a cowboy does at the end of the movie when he's killed all the bad guys. His work is finished so he moves on. March to a different drummer, I guess, although that's not my idiom. I would say "March to the beat of a different drum". It means that you are out of step with others. SignatureDavid In our last episode, <99f4cf9e-ce07-4b81-9685-2c72d3fdedf4@v23g2000pro.googlegroups.com>, the lovely and talented Masa broadcast on alt.usage.english: > The following sentences are from a novel. > Windy's acquaintances and colleague had long since stopped correcting > Windy's malapropisms [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > or accusing someone of marching to a different color. > (Isle of Dogs, p31, by P.Cornwell) > context: Winder is a secretary to Hammer, state police > superintendent. Windy always say > various things about her female boss by using set phrases wrongly. > question: about 1) write into the sunset 2) march to a different color > These must be examples of Windy's malapropisms. So do you know their > original phrases from where these are supposed to come? ride into the sunset: typical happy ending scene of a Western motion picture in which the hero (perhaps with the girl) rides off into the sunset having resolved whatever problems have occurred. march to a different drummer: "If a man loses pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured, or far away. " --Henry David Thoreau In this last Windy has confused 'march to a different drummer' with 'horse of a different color.' To "march to a different drummer" means to have values, goals, plans, etc. that differ from those of other people. A "horse of a different color" is a matter completely different from the one being discussed (probably from Shakespeare in which a "horse of that colour" means "the same subject." SignatureLars Eighner <http://larseighner.com/> usenet@larseighner.com INCREDIBLE new art blog: http://inflagrantedilettante.blogspot.com/ So let me ask another question. If Windy has a intetion to convey her own meaning by these phrases wrongly used, what would be they? What image or sense do you get from these phrases? > So let me ask another question. > > If Windy has a intetion to convey her own meaning by these phrases > wrongly used, > what would be they? What image or sense do you get from these > phrases? "Writing off into the sunset" strikes me as an imaginative reworking of a tired old saw. I get the impression of someone happily writing after the work of writing would have normally been done, but I suspect other interpretations are possible, especially depending on context. I'm not sure what to make of "marching to a different color." Maybe something related to the use of "colors" to mean "flag" is possible. Again, the context of Windy's use of the phrase would help. As that's probably outside of the scope of the novel, I guess you'll just have to take the author's word that the phrases were intentionally used for her own porpoises. --Jeff SignatureThe comfort of the wealthy has always depended upon an abundant supply of the poor. --Voltaire In our last episode, <c90346cf-f4f2-4aa5-857d-8befb1f4cfab@r31g2000prh.googlegroups.com>, the lovely and talented Masa broadcast on alt.usage.english: > So let me ask another question. > If Windy has a intetion to convey her own meaning by these phrases wrongly > used, what would be they? She doesn't. The context shows she intends the phrases in their usual meanings, but she has got the phrases wrong. The person who utters a malaprop does not intend to say something novel, but merely uses the wrong word. The original Mrs. Malaprop often went wrong by attempting learned terms that were really beyond her intellectual achievements or refined words that were above her station, but by getting the words wrong made herself ridiculous. More recent than Wilde's character is Hyacinth Bucket in "Keeping Up Appearances" who strives to appear respectably bourgeois although she is of very common origins. > What image or sense do you get from these phrases? In this case, the phrases Windy has got wrong are not pretentious. In one case she probably misheard the phrase to begin with (in which case it is a mondegreen rather than a malaprop) and in the other she has confused two common expressions. This is evidence she is scatterbrained, but not that she is pretending to be something she is not. SignatureLars Eighner <http://larseighner.com/> usenet@larseighner.com INCREDIBLE new art blog: http://inflagrantedilettante.blogspot.com/ Lars Eighner filted: >The original Mrs. Malaprop often went wrong by attempting learned terms that >were really beyond her intellectual achievements or refined words that were >above her station, but by getting the words wrong made herself ridiculous. >More recent than Wilde's character is Hyacinth Bucket in "Keeping Up >Appearances" who strives to appear respectably bourgeois although she is of >very common origins. At this point, it falls to me to recommend the movie "Trixie", whose title character (played by "Breaking the Waves" star Emily Watson) is a detective seemingly unable to open her mouth without committing at least one malaprop....r SignatureA pessimist sees the glass as half empty. An optometrist asks whether you see the glass more full like this?...or like this? > More recent than Wilde's character Sorry, it was Sheridan's character (The Rivals). SignatureCW >> More recent than Wilde's character > Sorry, it was Sheridan's character (The Rivals). Oh, of course you are right. I don't know why but I always confuse The Rivals with The Importance of Being Earnest. SignatureLars Eighner <http://larseighner.com/> usenet@larseighner.com INCREDIBLE new art blog: http://inflagrantedilettante.blogspot.com/ |
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