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Mar 3, 2018 · A recent example was when someone I was discussing something with accidentally combined "handy" and "useful" and ended up saying that it was "handful". (If something is "a handful" then it's pretty problematic, not very useful.) This kind of mixup when you two thoughts with the same meaning accidentally combine into something with the opposite ...
- 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 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 something deeply...
May 19, 2021 · You unintentionally mix up your words when speaking. Your words get mixed up frequently and it seems there’s nothing you can do to stop it. When you’ve mixed up your words, others found it funny but you may have become concerned that you might have a mental problem developing.
Jan 16, 2017 · A lot of people mix up children's names or friends' names, but Deffler is a cognitive scientist at Rollins College, in Winter Park, Fla., and she wanted to find out why it happens. So she,...
- Michelle Trudeau
Sep 23, 2024 · I’m a neuroscientist who studies how mixed emotions are represented in the brain. Do people ever truly feel both positive and negative at the same time? Or do we just switch quickly back and...
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Jan 17, 2017 · Luckily, science has an answer — it's largely to do with how your brain keeps itself organized. Cognitive scientist Samantha Deffler, from Rollins College in Florida, discovered after...
