英语修辞与写作·14.2　Malapropism

14.2　Malapropism

14.2A　Malapropism的含义与形式

1） Malapropism指荒唐可笑的词语误用，俗称“飞白”（Mimesis），尤指使用发音相似而意义全非的词语，例如把“破绽”的“绽”（zhan）读成“定”（语音飞白），把“刻不容缓”改成“咳不容缓”（文字飞白，药品广告）等。

2） 18世纪英国著名剧作家Richard Sheridan的喜剧The Rivals中有个名叫Malaprop的人物，地位显贵而知识浅薄，好卖弄词藻，但因一知半解而满口错字别音，闹出许多笑话。后来就从这个人物的名字演变成为malapropism这样一种修辞格式，即利用近音异义，有意地利用白字别音的一种语言表达形式。

14.2B　Malapropism的修辞作用

1） 由于乡音重或缺乏正规教育，有些人标准音发不准，以致常在说话时弄出错误。例如：

“The girls were up at four this morning, packing her trunks, sister,”replied Miss Jemima; “We have made her a bow-pot.”

“Say a bouquet, sister Jemima, it's more genteel.”

“Well, a booky as big almost as a hay-stack; ...”

（Thackeray）

Jemima由于文化水平低，先是把bouquet说成bowpot，后虽经她姐姐纠正，还是未弄清，又错说成booky，一错再错，既令人好笑，又令人同情，作家这样描写，全是为刻画人物的需要。

2） 有的人明明知识不多，却不懂装懂，洋相百出。例如：

When Miss Sharp had performed the heroical act mentioned in the last chapter, and had seen the Dixonary flying over the pavement of the little garden ... and she sank in the carriage in an easy frame of mind, saying,“So much for the Dixonary; and thank God, ...”

（Thackeray）

同上例不同的是，作家在这里使用Malapropism，是为了讽刺和嘲弄Miss Sharp这类人的。

3） 在儿童文学作品中，作家常用这种辞格表现儿童的说话特点。例如：

“Ernest，”said Theobald, from the arm-chair in front of the fire, where he was sitting with his hands folded before him,“don't you think it would be very nice if you were to say ‘come’ like other people, ...?” “I do say tum,” replied Ernest, meaning that he had said “come”.

（Samuel Butler）

幼小的Ernest把come说成tum，父亲纠正了，孩子还是讲错。看来还应告诉他如何摆正舌位才行。又如：

“Sh-sh!”said Ruth. “Now you must listen. Mrs. Escobar's going to read you a lovely story about an owl and pussy, ....”

Mrs.Escobar began:

“The aul and the pooseh-cut went to sea ...”

（Leonard Xuxeley）

这里Escobar太太是在以儿童口吻给孩子讲故事。她故意把owl（猫头鹰）和pussy cat （猫）说成它们发音相近的aul和pooseh-cut这样两个别音词，同孩子们逗趣。

4） 白字别音是构成幽默笑话的常用手段。例如：

Questioner:What's usually used as a conductor of electricity?

Examinee:Why-er ...

Questioner:Correct, wire. Now tell me, what is the unit of electric power?

Examinee:The what?

Questioner:That's absolutely right. The Watt.

假若某人接受面试时能这样歪打正着，显然只能是说笑话罢了。又如：

A man from the Continent was travelling in England. He had caught a very bad cold. He coughed day and night. Then he put on his coat and hat and went to a chemist's. When asked what he wanted, the traveller said,“I want something for my cow, please.” ...

这是人们熟知的笑话。他根据英语字母组合-ough的发音可以是[aʊ]的经验推测，把cough误说成cow，试想如果不是药店人员细心询问，不知还会闹出什么笑话来。