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Spoonerism
- A ‘spoonerism’ is when a speaker accidentally mixes up the initial sounds or letters of two words in a phrase. The result is usually humorous.
blog.busuu.com/spoonerisms-malapropisms-mix-up-words/
Jan 31, 2024 · Though this might sometimes be embarrassing, a new study suggests mixing up people’s names is completely normal and by no means a sign of bad memory or aging. In fact, it may be...
Jan 17, 2017 · As it's already been established, we don't confuse names because people look alike; why, then, might we mix up two people of the same or a similar race?
Mar 3, 2018 · The name for a new word created by combining and eliding two distinct words is called a neologism. However, normally that refers to a new word that makes sense when you combine two words, not an already established word that doesn't make sense in the context you intend.
- Spoonerism
- Malapropism
- Other Ways We Play with English Words
A ‘spoonerism’ is when a speaker accidentally mixes up the initial sounds or letters of two words in a phrase. The result is usually humorous.
A ‘malapropism’ is when an incorrect word is used in a sentence that sounds like the correct word but means something completely different.
Blends
One of the easiest ways to get words mixed up is to think of one word while trying to say another. This is how blends end up happening. These mistakes happen regularly in all languages and are usually easy to notice. One famous example in pop culture is from the 2004 film Mean Girls, where the main character Cady gets nervous and accidentally creates the word grool.
Portmanteaus
Sometimes, though, these blends are intentional and become official words of their own. These new words are called portmanteaus and are quite common in English. Don’t believe me? Well, think about the last time you listened to a podcast (iPod + broadcast), breathed in smog (smoke + fog), on met friends for brunch (breakfast + lunch). A relatively new blended word is for a type of food from Louisiana that has increased in popularity in recent years, especially around American Thanksgiving. Do...
Jan 16, 2017 · Most everyone sometimes mixes up the names of family and friends. Their findings were published in the journal Memory & Cognition. "It's a normal cognitive glitch," Deffler says. It's not...
- Michelle Trudeau
But don’t fret, the momentary mix-up isn’t necessarily a sign of cognitive decline nor aging, assured Dr. Julie Dumas, an associated professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont. In...
People also ask
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May 19, 2016 · Studies find that people tend to confuse names that have similar beginnings and ends (which is why I'm often called "Melissa" instead of "Marissa"). This can also happen when names have a...
