TELT

“Ever since Richard Brinsley Sheridan created the chronically misspeaking character of Mrs. Malaprop in his 18th-century romantic comedy The Rivals, we’ve had a convenient word with which to point out other people’s linguistic inferiority. But is saying “epitaphs” when you really mean “epithets,” as Mrs. Malaprop did, really a sign of ignorance? In fact, there’s much more to malapropisms than you might think. Listen as Bob Garfield and I [Mike Vuolo] discuss what a common speech error reveals about the way that our mental lexicon—that is, the dictionary in our head—is likely organized.”

Shona Whyte:

Lexicon Valley podcast with discussion between Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield using David Fay and Anne Cutler's 1977 article for scientific background.

http://pubman.mpdl.mpg.de/pubman/item/escidoc:68653:10/component/escidoc:506938/Cutler_1977_Malapropisms+and+the.pdf