History Main / Malaproper

* Thompson and Thomson from ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' mix up their words at times. [[CatchPhrase To be precise]], at times they're wordy and mixed-up.

-->'''Gidney:''' ''[peevishly]'' Budget cuts! Budget cuts! That’s all our Beerless Leader says to us anymore.
-->'''Cloyd:''' ''[whispering]'' Not in front of the G-E-N-Y-U-S. We’ll make a terrible first compression on our guest of honor!

* The Beast is prone to this in ''X-Men Noir'' because he tries to sound smart but reaches farther than his vocabulary can vouch for. He's a very bright kid, though.

* The title character of ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'' has trouble uttering certain words, such as "shool" instead of "school", "spyider" instead of "spider", and most importantly, "Metrocity" instead of "Metro City"[[spoiler:, which becomes particularly important at the climax, as it allows Titan to uncover Megamind when posing as Metro Man]].

* Josh Sundquist has a bit about how a stranger once asked him "How come you don't have a prostate?" - Josh lost his left leg to cancer and was using crutches at the time, so it's clear through context that the man meant to say "''prosthesis''"

Compare and contrast with DelusionsOfEloquence, BluntMetaphorsTrauma, FreudianSlip, PopularSayingBut, and MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels. Compare and contrast also with the {{Spoonerism}}, where the first letter or syllable is transposed for comedy effect. If the speaker uses the apparently correct words instead but gets hopelessly lost in their train of thought, that's {{Metaphorgotten}}. If using the wrong word is the result of mishearing the correct word, that's a {{Mondegreen}}. RougeAnglesOfSatin is this trope in written form.

* Although ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'''s Lindsay does this mainly with names in the show (typically in a {{mondegreen}} style), fanfic writers often [[{{Flanderization}} flanderize]] her into a full-fledged malaproper.

-->"Pear pimples for hairy fishnuts!" (Translation: "Prayer temples for Hare Krishnas.")\\

[[folder:Web Original]]
* [=ToasterLeavings=]'s writeups at ''Website/{{Everything2}}''. [[http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1421290 Werd in dude!! (and by dude I also mean a ven diagram protractoring includesive of all hot chicks)...]]
* Branca Braunstein of ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' is starting to mis-speak a fair bit; mostly because she's deluded herself into believing she is one of her "friends" who is far more upper-class than her, so to speak. [[spoiler: This coming directly after Branca ''killed'' aforementioned "friend".]]
-->'''Branca:''' That's is a mag-mag... magnitude idea! GladIThoughtOfIt.
* Torq, the Half-Orc Fighter of Podcast/CriticalHit tends to do this with any multi-syllabic words, especially if they come from someone else's mouth first.
* WebVideo/{{Jontron}} tends to do this in his unscripted videos, namely, those made as part of the WebVideo/GameGrumps.
-->'''Jontron:''' ''*describing the importance of Franchise/{{Kirby}} obtaining the Hammer ability*'' We need this, this hits wooden.
** Also discussed on Game Grumps during one episode, in which Danny describes the potential hilarity that can come from someone trying out an idiom that they don't quite understand, e.g. "screwed the pooch":
-->'''Danny''': DAMMIT! I had sex with the dog! I really fellated a canine!
** Ross is also known for his malapropisms on the show, such as "really throwing a wrench into that triangle" and "we're all cavemen eventually". Danny reportedly keeps a list of these "Rossisms", and fans have taken to [[https://gamegrumps.fandom.com/wiki/Rossisms cataloging them]] as well.
* The episode of ''WebVideo/PokemonTheAbridgedSeries'' in which the heroes meet Sabrina, the Psychic Gym Leader, saw malapropisms of such words as "psychopath" and "psychic-ologist", much to the annoyance of Brock.
* Wood Burns of WebVideo/WhereTheBearsAre has a photogenic memory, knows what evidence tamponing is, and will have you know that Dumbo is a delicious dish made from sausage, rice, and shrimp.
* It has become a fairly widespread Website/{{Tumblr}} [[Memes/{{Tumblr}} meme]] to mangle [[Creator/BenedictCumberbatch Benadryl Computerglitch's]] name to the point of comical inaccuracy, yet still be immediately aware of who is being referenced.
* When referring to the ''Doctor Who'' serial "The Edge of Destruction", ''Podcast/WhoBackWhen'' host Ponken will consistently refer to it as "The Edge of Descrussion."
* Creator/NeilCicierega milks this for all it's worth in his "Guide to" series, which are mostly accurate guides to subjects including ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' to Creator/TomHanks films in terms of order of events, [[EntertaininglyWrong but with glaringly incorrect names]].
-->'''[=HanksMaster=]''': Tom Hanks got his start on the hit sitcom ''[[Series/BosomBuddies The Booty Brothers]]'' with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Scolari Peegle Scalia]], which led to a breakout starring role in [[Creator/RonHoward Ron Howler's]] ''[[Film/{{Splash}} Splanch]]'' with [[Creator/DarylHannah Dairy Hamper]], followed by comedies such as ''[[Film/BachelorParty Barnacle Portal]]'', ''[[Film/TheManWithOneRedShoe This Man Has One Wet Foot]]'', and ''[[Film/TheMoneyPit The Pony Pimp]]'', and dramas such as ''[[Film/NothingInCommon Nomming on Cotton]]'' with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Gleason Jabby Gleeksquad]], ''[[Film/EveryTimeWeSayGoodbye Everybody Dance Now]]'', and crime films like ''[[Film/{{Dragnet}} Pregnet]]'' with [[Creator/DanAykroyd Dan Ass]]. Then, one of his most famous roles: ''[[Film/{{Big}} Bag]]'', which marked the Tom Hanks evolution from boy to man.
* [[https://www.reddit.com/r/BoneAppleTea/ r/BoneAppleTea]] is a [[Website/{{Reddit}} subreddit]] dedicated to posting instances of malapropisms.
* LetsPlay/DaithiDeNogla, thanks to his frequent mangling of words and sentences, very out-there [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent Irish brogue]], and wonky microphone, does this just about anytime he opens his mouth.
* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': One of the sillier objects protected by the foundation is [[http://www.scpwiki.com/scp-586 SCP-586]], a length of green metal pipe that causes anyone trying to describe it in writing to make typos and malapropisms. This even extends to the "file imagine" of the object being a green Pope instead of a green pipe.
* In ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'', Goku has this problem, what with being the ultimate IdiotHero. Ultimately, it gets so bad that Mr. Popo kicks him off Kami's Lookout for all the times he mangled "Hyperbolic Time Chamber".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]
* As noted in the introductory text above, the trope namer is ''Theatre/TheRivals'' by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
* OlderThanSteam: Creator/WilliamShakespeare was fond of having characters, especially lower-class characters who speak in prose, use a number of malapropisms. Tragically, it can be easy to miss the humor if you're not familiar with Elizabethan English, since its archaic but correct terms can disguise the impostors in their midst.
** Amateur thespians and simple tradesmen Quince, Flute, and Bottom the Weaver from ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream'' speak almost entirely in these.
** Juliet's nurse from ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' also speaks almost entirely in these, for which she is hilariously ridiculed.
--->'''Nurse:''' ''[to Romeo]'' If you be he, sir, I desire some ''confidence'' with you.\\
'''Benvolio:''' She will ''indite'' him to some supper.
** Constable Dogberry in ''Theatre/MuchAdoAboutNothing'', whose watch have comprehended two auspicious persons.
** Constable Elbow in ''Theatre/MeasureForMeasure''. The babbling constable was a fairly common device in plays of the time, commenting on the fact that it was difficult to get competent people to fill law enforcement positions, due to the low pay.
** When, in ''Theatre/TwelfthNight'', Olivia comments on Toby Belch's "lethargy," his drunken response is:
--->'''Sir Toby:''' Lechery? I defy lechery!
** Sir Andrew Aguecheek at one point refers to Sebastian as "the very devil ''incardinate"''.
** Launcelot and his dad, Old Gobbo, in ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice''.
** Launce in ''Theatre/TwoGentlemenOfVerona'' has received his ''proportion'', like the ''prodigious'' son.
** The Gravedigger in ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' is a capable philosopher, but he does tend to make unfortunate substitutions such as ''argal'' for ''ergo''.
** Mistress Quickly in the [[Theatre/HenryIVPart1 He]][[Theatre/HenryIVPart2 nri]][[Theatre/HenryV ad]] is also prone to this.
* In ''Sheer Madness'', a policeman makes mistakes like "individualistically" for "individually" and "psychotic" for "psychic". (Note: The show does not follow the exact same script every time, being interactive with the audience and partly improvised.)
* ''Theatre/OnTheTown'':
-->'''Ivy''': Oh, I know. I'm gonna be arrested for disnuding in public.
* In ''Theatre/TrialByJury'', the Plaintiff's Counsel objects: "To marry two at once is Burglaree!"
* In ''Theatre/AvenueQ'', Rod panics when he realizes just how {{transparent|Closet}} his closet is to all of his friends, and starts singing very quickly and loudly about his "[[GirlfriendInCanada girlfriend who lives in Canada]]," named Alberta, who lives in Vancouver. (He takes maybe one breath before he finishes the song.) At one point, singing too quickly, he messes up:
--> "I love her - I miss her - I can't wait to kiss her - so soon I'll be off to Alberta - I mean Vancouver - (aside) shit, her NAME is Alberta, she LIVES in Vancou- she's my girlfriend! My wonderful girlfriend! Yes I have a girlfriend! Who lives! In! CANADA!"
* In ''Theatre/PaintYourWagon'', Jennifer tries to tell her father that she's not a child anymore, but can't hide her lack of education: "I'm a growed-up person. I'm feelin' more adulterous all the time!" He gives her a stunned look, then quietly tells her it's not the right word. This is given an echo in a later scene, where Jennifer returns all schooled up, and her father scolds her, "What do you think, just because you're almost eighteen you've reached the age o' maternity?" To which Jennifer replies as he did to her earlier malaproper.
* In ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'', Madame Morrible and other Ozians sometimes don't get words right. Some examples are "disgusticified" and "braverism." Or a giant banner that reads "CONGRATULOTIONS."
* ''Leave It to Me!'':
-->'''Goodhue''': I want to say I went to the French Foreign Office--the Fifi D'Orsay.\\
'''Thomas''': The Quai. D'Orsai.
* In ''Theatre/TheAddingMachine'', of the two additional holidays Jews get to take off, Mr. Zero only remembers the name of "Young Kipper."
* In ''[[Theatre/FarndaleAvenue The Haunted Through-Lounge and Recessed Dining Nook at Farndale Castle]]'', Lottie Grosskopf is recently arrived from Austria and her grasp of English vocabulary and idiom slips from time to time.
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'''s EnsembleDarkHorse, Derpy Hooves is portrayed in {{Fanon}} as falling into malapropisms, especially when stressed or anxious.

[-Thanks for visiting TB Popes!-]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* In RealLife, the second type of this (substitution of similar sounding words) can occur with a condition called paraphasia.
* Comedian Norm Crosby has made a career (or, more recently, an annual Jerry Lewis Telethon appearance) of the art of the carefully mis-chosen word.
* The Grand Master Malaproper of all time is UsefulNotes/{{baseball}} legend [[http://www.rinkworks.com/said/yogiberra.shtml Yogi Berra]]:
** "It ain't the heat; it's the humility."
** On the occasion of "Yogi Berra Day" at Sportsman's Park in his native St. Louis: "I'd like to thank all those who made this day necessary."
** Much of what has been attributed to him is probably apocryphal. In his own words: "[[BeamMeUpScotty I really didn't say everything I said]]."
* Another baseball legend given to this was Casey Stengel, hence the term "Stengelese":
** "He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious."
** "All right, everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height."
** "There comes a time in every man's life, and I've had plenty of them."
* Yet another baseball figure prone to these was '70s Philadelphia Phillies manager Danny Ozark:
** "Half this game is 90% mental."
** "Even Napoleon had his Watergate."
* Then there's Jerry Coleman, who became well known for his "Colemanisms" during his long career as an announcer for the San Diego Padres.
** "He's throwing up in the bullpen."
** "He slides into second with a stand-up double."
** "He swings and misses, and it's fouled back into the stands."
** "Winfield goes back to the wall, he hits his head on the wall, and it rolls off! It's rolling all the way back to second base. This is a terrible thing for the Padres."
* Whatever you might think of the man himself, there's no denying that former President [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushism George W. Bush]] was somewhat prone to this.
** "People that had been trained in some instances to disassemble. That means not tell the truth."
** "I know how hard it is to put food on your family."
** "I want to make the pie higher."
** One of Bush's most famous was "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."
** "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
* British sports commentator David Coleman was very prone to malapropisms, to the point where ''Magazine/PrivateEye'' named a regular column of gaffes "Colemanballs". Coleman has since retired; as long as public figures put their feet in their mouths, or sport commentating exists, "Colemanballs" will live on. Two of his most famous slip-ups were "Harry Commentator is your carpenter" and "I'm glad to say that this is the first Saturday in four weeks that sport will be weather-free."
* Montreal Canadiens coach and later sports commentator Jean Perron was so notorious for this that malapropisms and mixed metaphors are called "perronismes" in Quebec French.
* Music/RingoStarr often made malapropisms, to the point where, when they needed a title for their first film, Music/TheBeatles just used [[Film/AHardDaysNight something Ringo had said a few evenings prior]].
** "Tomorrow Never Knows" (only the title)
** Possibly "Eight Days a Week", although Paul variously attributed the title to Ringo and to a chauffeur. Either way, it's an example of this trope. Sirius XM radio's Beatles Channel even uses "24/8" as a display on subscribers' radios.
** Definitely came up with the title for "A Hard Days Night", when upon leaving Abbey Road, Ringo found, much to his surprise that evening had fallen whilst Music/TheBeatles were recording. [[note]] And guess which of Music/TheBeatles collects watches....[[/note]]
** Legend has it that he did this so often that, when he was a kid at school, his fellow students would approach him and start conversations with him ''just to hear him talk.''
* Unfortunately common all over the world. Creator/ScottAdams publishes "Dogbert's New Ruling Class Newsletter" when he feels like it, and a regular feature is a section citing malapropisms and garbled adages which readers heard, mostly from their PointyHairedBoss and cow-orkers.
* Karl Pilkington, a fellow presenter on "The Ricky Gervais Show" often confused expressions and pronunciations, usually by embellishing details and not following the original news sources correctly
* Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen is known for many things, among them malapropisms and other rather interesting quotes. For instance, he has spoken of a "''bon voyage''-feeling -- a feeling of having experienced something before", and estimated his chances as being "fifty-sixty".
* ''FanFic/MyImmortal''. Listed under RealLife rather than FanFic because it's not the characters who keep screwing up long words (well, they do too, by extension), it's the author. Often results in a dirty word being inadvertently turned into something clean... or vice versa.
* During moral panics about pedophilia, offices of children's doctors (pediatricians) have been vandalized, and literature connected with teaching (pedagogy) has been attacked. As if criminal pedophiles would announce themselves like that.
* An {{Urban Legend|s}} rather than an actual occurrence, but George Smathers was reported as having slammed Claude Pepper during one race: supposedly he said: "Are you aware that Claude Pepper is known all over Washington as a shameless extrovert? Not only that, but this man is reliably reported to practice nepotism with his sister-in-law, and he has a sister who was once a thespian in wicked New York. Worst of all, it is an established fact that Mr. Pepper, before his marriage, habitually practiced celibacy." This isn't a malapropism, though; the person who wrote the supposed speech was using ''exactly the correct words''.
* Thomas "Mumbles" Menino, the former Mayor of Boston, is ''infamous'' for this sort of thing ([[TheUnintelligible along with the fact that you can barely tell what he's saying in the first place]]). The more famous ones are him calling Boston's parking shortage "An Alcatraz around my neck" and referring to a former mayor as "A man of great statue." Then there was the time he referred to Patriots player Rob Gronkowski, popularly known as Gronk, as ''{{Gonk}}''.
* Ursula Pendragon-White, who appeared at least twice in the memoirs of Gerald Durrell. Perhaps the ''mildest'' screwups mentioned were talking about a woman who wanted an ablution to avoid having an illiterate baby (which sounds like UnfortunateImplications until you consider that "illiterate" is being used instead of "illegitimate") and ordering a "graffiti with ice".
* When prince Willem-Alexander of Orange was in Mexico during an official tour in early November 2009, he managed to mangle the Mexican proverb "Camarón que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente" (Translated literally as "The prawn who sleeps gets dragged away by the current", in context it would be something like "You snooze, you lose") as "Camarón que se duerme se lo lleva la chingada" [[SidetrackedByTheAnalogy (Replace "dragged away by the current" with "ends all fucked up").]] And while both phrases are often interchangeable, the latter is actually something you wouldn't use in these kinds of situations due to "Chingada" being a truly offensive word in Mexican Spanish. But that didn't stop the crowd from [[RuleOfFunny taking it as a joke]].
* Milous Jakes, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, was target of jokes due to this. From [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]]:
--> ''He gained unwanted fame through his famous speech addressed to local party workers in Červený Hrádek close to Plzeň. When speaking about the necessity of Gorbachev-inspired "perestroika", he presented himself and the party as a lonely fence-post being allegedly left alone to overcome the hardships. On the same occasion he mistook the word broiler (type of chicken) for boiler and spoke in an embarrassingly familiar way about some official Czech pop music singers when pointing to their allegedly super-high incomes ("Nobody of us earns so much!").''
* In a video that went severe MemeticMutation in Brazil involving a cancelled autograph session by Music/{{Restart}}, an angry girl calls the thing a "''puta falta de sacanagem''". In English, it would be like: "great fuck-up" + "lack of respect" = "great lack of fuck-up".
* Also from Brazil, Vicente Matheus, who managed local team Corinthians, was prone to gems such as "Who's in the rain is to get burned!", "It was a result that both Greeks and Napolitans (UsefulNotes/{{Trojan|War}}s) liked" and "A player needs to be like a duck, who is an animal both aquatic and grasstic."
* These can also be induced by computers. For examples, see ScunthorpeProblem.
* The liner notes to an unauthorized Beatles cash-in album contained the sentence [[http://www.snopes.com/music/hidden/ifield.asp "It is with great pride that this copulation is presented"]].
* Chilean ex-President [[StepfordSmiler Sebastián]] [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Piñera]] can be described as UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] Mitt Romney: "''mártis''" (instead of ''mártires'', martyrs), "''tusunami''" (tsunami), "''galáctea/galáctia''" (''galaxia'', galaxy), "''cubrido''" (''cubierto'', covered), etc. He is also a big KnowNothingKnowItAll and, unsurprisingly, a huge FountainOfMemes.
* The example of this trope everyone thinks of in the UK is [[LargeHam Murray Walker]] who commentated on UsefulNotes/FormulaOne and other motorsports between 1950 and 2001. He became very beloved and popular not only for how enthusiastic he sounds but also for the amount of gaffes and mistakes he made in the heat of the moment. One of the most well known ones was this gem at Monaco.
--> ''Albereto is coming into the pits and i'm going to stop the startwatch!"
* Every Israeli soccer player ever. One of them was so brilliant at it, he got his own talk-show, in which (without realising it) ''he'' was the butt of the joke...
* Jean Chrétien, former Prime Minister of Canada, is well known for regular malapropisms in both English and French whenever he wasn't reading from a prepared speech, though this also added to his real-life NarmCharm. A common joke at the time was that he was the first Prime Minister in Canadian history who couldn't speak ''either'' official languages.
* German comedian Otto Waalkes once did a sketch that contains of a speech that is almost nothing but malaprops. And that speech was about - proper use of language.
* The late Victor Chernomyrdin, Russian ex-PM. Didn't overtly mangle words, but often failed in combining them into meaningful sentences. Or got completely unexpected effect.
** "You have to be born in charisma!"
** "There's no better worse than vodka."
** "My life passed in an atmosphere of gas and oil."
** "We've never seen such things, and here they go again."
** "Teachers and doctors need to eat, too. Almost every day."
** "Principles that were important, were unimportant."
** "Wanted to do better, but did as always."
** ''Lebed''[[note]]general, opposition politician, name translates as "swan"[[/note]] ''and Grachev''[[note]]defense minister, name derived from "rook"[[/note]] ''are like two birds who can't get along in the same bear-hole.''
* Mike Tyson has had many hilarious malapropisms:
** "Hannibal, he rode elephants into Cartilage."
** "I guess I'll fade into Bolivian."
* Football player Franck Ribéry is this in France. His grammatically dubious, stereotypically low-brow statements have come to be known as "ribérysmes", achieving MemeticMutation.
** During the 2006 World Cup in Germany, he once referred to the [[{{Togo}} Togolese]] team as "Tongolese".
** "The Stade Vélodrome [[note]]the home stadium of the Olympique de Marseille, like, say, Old Trafford is for Manchester United[[/note]] is a stadium that's always full, whether at home or away!"
** "Imma fuck your mom, cousin!" ("J'te nique ta mère direct, cousin!")[[note]]"cousin" being used in French slang in a similar way as [[NWordPrivileges the N-word]] can be in its ''other'' usage[[/note]]
** "Finland is always a place I like to come." ("La Finlande, c'est toujours un endroit que j'aime bien venir.")
** "It's a game played in two games."
** "Unconsciously, you can't fall asleep."
** "I think we hope we're going to win."
* Presidential candidate Ségolène Royal has become infamous for this. On a pre-campaign trip to China, while visiting the Great Wall, she remarked upon the "bravitude" of the Chinese people. It doesn't make any more sense in French than it does in English.
* German TV and radio host [[Series/{{Domian}} Jürgen Domian]] sometimes gets called Domi'''n'''an by his callers.
* [[http://gawker.com/language-school-blogger-fired-for-writing-about-homopho-1613916147/all This language blogger]] was (allegedly) fired for a blog post about homophones. Their reasoning was that the publication doesn't want to be associated with homosexuality (!). The report prompted [[http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/07/31/the-homophone-menace/ this]] tongue-in-cheek reply.
* Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has some infamous malapropisms. Most infamously, when criticising a political rival, he noted, "No one, however smart, however well educated, however experienced, is the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suppository suppository]] of all wisdom."
* In December 2014, at a Hanukkah ceremony, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker got in trouble for mangling the Hebrew expression "Mazel Tov" [[labelnote:*]]"congratulations"[[/labelnote]] as "Molotov", as in "MolotovCocktail". [[UnfortunateImplications Things got worse was it was revealed it was written that way in his script for the event]].
* Political commentator and UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump surrogate Scottie Nell Hughes made a reference to "mazel tov cocktails" on a CNN appearance toward the end of the 2016 presidential campaign.
* Creator/JohnTravolta's infamous "Adele Dazim" when introducing Creator/IdinaMenzel at the UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s. She retaliated by introducing him the following year as "Glom Gazingo" - just after host Neil Patrick Harris said "Creator/BenedictCumberbatch, great actor and how John Travolta calls Ben Affleck".
* Spain's known politician and reelected president Mariano Rajoy (2011-2018) has become rather infamous for falling to this on several occasions:
** "It's very difficult todo esto" [[GratuitousEnglish (Untranslated quote)]] ("All of this it´s very difficult)
** "Todo lo que se ha publicado en los medios no es cierto, salvo alguna cosa" ("Everything that has been published in the media is not true, save for some things")
** "A veces la mejor decisión es no tomar ninguna decisión, y eso también es una decisión." ("Sometimes the best choice is not making a choice, and that is also a choice")
** "Las decisiones se toman en el momento de tomarlas." ("Choices are made at the moment of making them.")
** "Al final, los seres humanos somos sobre todo personas con alma y sentimientos y esto es muy bonito" ("In the end, we human beings are above all people with souls and feelings, and this is very beautiful.")
** Among many others.
* Vitaliy Klichko, a former boxer, was discovered to be one after becoming the mayor of Kyiv. His quotes make great [[MemeticMutation memes]].
** "Today, not everyone can look into tomorrow. To be more precise, not only everyone can look into there, few people can do this..."
** "I, for one, can't see any smells."
** "I want to draw everyone's attention [to the fact that] I talked to many militiamen who died, with people, protestants who died and they all ask the same question..."
** "I have two deputies, four of whom..."
* It's common to hear stories of signs or otherwise reading "We apologise for any [[PottyFailure incontinence]] caused" instead of "inconvenience".
* Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, in his attempts to emulate his predecessor UsefulNotes/HugoChavez, frequently slips into this during his speeches. Notable examples include his infamous "Cristo multiplicó los penes" (he combined "peces" (fish) with "panes" (loaves), but ended up changing "Christ multiplied the fishes and loaves" to "Christ multiplied the ''penises''"), and saying things like "millones y millonas", "estudiantes y estudiantas", as if trying to be inclusive with both the male and female genders (the equivalent of saying "she-millions" and "she-students"), when only the first words are correct in Spanish.
* Mexico's one-time president Enrique Peña Nieto was guilty of turning a Mexican place into a Japanese one("Okinawa" instead of "Ojinaga"), calling several cities as states(Tijuana and Monterrey), and generally just botching his talk.
* The Website/{{Reddit}} sub [[https://www.reddit.com/r/BoneAppleTea/ r/BoneAppleTea]] is dedicated to collecting examples of this trope.
* This trope can cause commonly-used idioms to morph over time; after enough mishearings, the misheard version becomes the new standard. One of the more infamous cases is "couldn't care less" becoming "could care less" (which, taken literally, should mean the exact opposite).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Often done by [[Creator/LaurelAndHardy Stan Laurel]] in his films. Some examples are:
-->"Say, mister, don't you think you're ''bounding over your steps?'' (from ''Film/TheMusicBox'')\\
"You can lead a horse to water, ''but a pencil must be lead''."\\
"We floundered ''in a typhoid.''" (from ''Film/SonsOfTheDesert'')\\
"A terrible ''cats-on-me!''" (instead of a terrible ''catastrophe'')\\
"Upset? I'm ''housebroken''!" (from ''March Of the Wooden Soldiers'')
* Common in the ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' series, what with Rocky being "officially expired" from boxing and Paulie yelling about his "stinkin' Ex-lax watch."
* Johnny Nogerelli in ''Film/Grease2'', whose verbal garbling produces gems such as turning "menstruation" into "mentalstration".
* In the 2007 version of ''Film/{{Hairspray}}'', Amber, trying to get Tracy in trouble, tells Edna that Tracy has entered "a hotbed of moral turpentine".
* Lenina Huxley in ''Film/DemolitionMan''. In this case, it comes from the fact that she's someone from a utopian 2032 trying to replicate 20th-century slang. "Chief, you can take this job and shovel it!" This, interestingly, is the one John Spartan declares "close enough," after some doozies like "Yeah, let's go blow this guy!"
* In ''Film/FullMetalJacket'': Private Snowball has a straight Malapropism when he describes Oswald as shooting Kennedy from a "book suppository".
* Partially subverted in the UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} film ''Film/{{Baghban}}'', where a cafe owner (played by a Gujarati actor, Paresh Rawal) constantly mangles his Hindi figures of speech, much to the amusement of his wife -- which, he reveals, is why he does it.
* ''Franchise/ThePinkPanther'':
** Inspector Clouseau may be a unique case: he usually gets the words right, but due to his extremely thick accent, they can sound like other words. For instance, in ''Film/TrailOfThePinkPanther'', he asks a hotel clerk for a ''message'', but it comes out as ''massage''.
** Creator/BlakeEdwards sometimes carries this a little further in the script by having people misunderstand Clouseau so badly that they worsen the situation. For instance in ''Film/TheReturnOfThePinkPanther'', Clouseau refers to a chimp as a "muenkey" but the other characters, upon hearing this, pronounce it "minkey".
* Mr. Furious from ''Film/MysteryMen''. He throws out gems like "People who live in glass houses......shouldn't! Because ''this'' happens!" (before utterly failing to break a windshield) or: "I am a Pantera's box you do ''not'' want to open''. He is corrected by the BigBad.
* The character Ben Jabituya from ''Film/ShortCircuit'' is an Indian (from Pittsburgh) who speaks in a stereotyped Indian accent and constantly spouts badly mangled metaphors in addition to (mostly) grammatically correct but idiomatically horrible English (more [[http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0013802/quotes here]]).
-->'''Ben Jabituya:''' I am standing here beside myself.\\
'''Ben Jabituya:''' So now I am having no job to speak about. I will have to smack the sidewalk.\\
'''Ben Jabituya:''' I have seen some strange, bizarre drivers, but you. You will be awarded a cake.\\
'''Ben Jabituya:''' Bimbo!
%%* Leo Gorcey, in the ''Film/BoweryBoys'' comedies.
* ''Film/BetterOffDead'': Monique: "He keeps putting his testicles all over me."
* ''Film/TheGoonies'' was like Malapropers Gone Wild!, what with [[BunglingInventor Data]] and his "booty traps" and Mikey "I guess we're in big shit now right?" Walsh, who definitely inherited it from his mom.
-->'''Mrs. Walsh:''' Brandon, don't you dare come back without your brother, or I'm going to commit Hare Krishna!\\
'''Brandon:''' That's [[{{Seppuku}} hari kari]], Ma!\\
'''Mrs. Walsh:''' That is exactly what I said![[note]]Actually they're both incorrect. It's supposed to be "hara kiri".[[/note]]
* In the original 1960 ''Film/TheLittleShopOfHorrors'', Gravis Muschnik is asked if there's a Latin name for Audrey, Jr., and, since there isn't, writes it off by saying "Yeah, but who can denounce it?". Audrey (the person, not the plant), meanwhile, once mentions "cesarean salad".
* In ''Film/FlyingDownToRio'' has one line from Honey, referring how hard it is to find Belinha in Rio: "It's like finding a noodle in a haystack."
* ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'':
** The trilogy is fond of these. Biff Tannen, such as, "Make like a tree, and get out of here." Apparently it runs in the family as [[IdenticalGrandson his great-grandfather]] "Mad-Dog" Tannen also vows to hunt Marty down and shoot him like a "duck".
** In the [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartII second film]], Old Biff tells his younger self how stupid he sounds, telling him angrily what the "right" way to say the joke is. (As in "make like a tree and leave." He seems to be cured of this habit in the timeline that eventually comes to pass.)
** This was also shown in [[Ride/BackToTheFutureTheRide the now-closed Universal Studios Orlando ride]], where he trips a guard and tells him that he will "see [him] next winter", causing the guard to feebly correct him before passing out.
* ''Film/LastActionHero''. Vivaldi, who keeps mixing metaphors and getting idioms wrong, which finally gets him killed by an exasperated Benedict.
-->'''Vivaldi:''' What is this? You were my friend and now you turn a 360 on me.\\
'''Benedict:''' '''''180''''', you ''stupid'' spaghetti-slurping cretin. If I did a ''360'', I would end up back where I started from!\\
'''Vivaldi:''' Uh?\\
'''Benedict:''' Trust me. ''[Blammo!]''
* In the beginning of ''Film/TheSpecials'', [[TheCape Strobe]] gives a speech about responsibility and [[UrineTrouble peeing on hookers]]. Later, [[TheDitz U.S. Bill]] is talking to a reporter, and mangles Strobe's speech: "When you see a little girl, I'm peeing on that girl!"
* A frequent trademark of [[Creator/MarxBrothers Chico Marx]]. Example, from ''Film/DuckSoup'':
-->'''Prosecutor:''' Something must be done! War would mean a prohibitive increase in our taxes.\\
'''Chicolini:''' Hey, I got an uncle lives in Taxes.\\
'''Prosecutor:''' No, I'm talking about taxes -- money, dollars!\\
'''Chicolini:''' Dollars! There's-a where my uncle lives! Dollars, Taxes!
* ''Film/TheBoondockSaints'':
** Doc the bartender seems to have a combination of [[HollywoodTourettes Tourette's]] and terminal malaproper.
--->'''Doc:''' You know what they say: People in glass houses sink sh-sh-ships.\\
'''Rocco:''' Doc, I gotta buy you, like, a proverb book or something. This mix'n'match shit's gotta go.\\
'''Doc:''' What?\\
'''Connor:''' A penny saved is worth two in the bush, isn't it?\\
'''Murphy:''' And don't cross the road if you can't get out of the kitchen.
** In the sequel, Romeo seems to have this problem as well (i.e., "this ain't rocket surgery.")
* In ''Film/StarWreckInThePirkinning'', Emperor Pirk has problems with complicated words. Some examples:
-->"Shut up! You're hurting the crew's moray!"\\
"A fleet of warships was built with the combined resorts of the Earth."\\
"Dammit, it's like sailing thru Jello. Info, condensate, do something!"
* Lloyd Christmas from ''Film/DumbAndDumber'' likes to describe himself as having a "rapist wit". He also wanted to have "tea and strumpets".
* Roman Moroni in ''Film/JohnnyDangerously'' does this constantly for swear words, as a means of [[CurseOfTheAncients Minced Oath]] but presented as a quirk of his accent. Everyone else reacts as if he has used the actual terms.
-->'''Roman Moroni:''' You lousy ''cork-soakers''. You have violated my ''farging'' rights. Dis ''somanumbatching'' country was founded so that the liberties of common patriotic citizens like me could not be taken away by a bunch of ''fargin iceholes'' like yourselves.
* In ''[[Film/TheWholeNineYards The Whole Ten Yards]]'', the Hungarian mobster Lazlo Gogolak frequently confuses idioms, terms, and acronyms, such as telling his underlings not to drink before their road trip, lest he gets an "IUD" (which would be very awkward, and painful, to a guy). And he absolutely hates being corrected.*
* In ''Film/MaxKeeblesBigMove'', Principal Jindraike does this when lecturing Max.
--> '''Principal Jindraike:'''You may be under the impression that I encourage horseplay and malarkey, you're wrong, I don't encourage it, I excourage it.\\
'''Max:''' Excourage?\\
'''Principal Jindraike: '''It means the opposite of encourage, look it up.
** Later in the movie, Max does this to Jindraike when he confronts him about stealing from the school budget.
---> '''Principal Jindraike:''' You should be careful before slanderizing your principal's spotless reputation with wild and groundless claims.\\
'''Max:''' They're not groundless, they're ground-full!\\
'''Principal Jindraike:''' GROUND-FULL?!?\\
'''Max:''' Look it up!
* ''Film/TheBigLebowski'': The Dude wants us to know that [[ThePornomancer Jackie Treehorn]] [[RussianReversal treats objects like women]], man!
* Several of the Creator/TylerPerry films featuring Madea has her using malapropisms (justified as she is an elderly woman and not the brightest person, either). In ''Film/DiaryOfAMadBlackWoman'', when learning her granddaughter, Helen, signed a prenuptial agreement prior to marrying her now ex-husband:
-->"Who told you to sign--I oughta punch you in the face! Who the hell told you to sign a ''renup''?!"
** And again in ''Film/MadeasFamilyReunion'', when trying to help her foster daughter with her math homework before giving up on it:
-->"I don't know nothin' about that ''[[ShoutOut algaroe]].''"
* ''Film/BicentennialMan'': One way Andrew is humanized is by having him get words wrong. He mistakes ''Theatre/SwanLake'' for ''Swine Lake'' and is confused by "throwing pearls before swans". Combined with his robotic {{Literal Minded}}ness, it's very comedic and keeps certain scenes from becoming too dramatic.
* In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', Tony is trying to get Drax and Mantis to listen in on his plan to how to deal with Thanos. When Peter Quill says that "not-winging it" is not what they do, Peter Parker asks just what it is they do. Mantis proudly proclaims "Kick names, take ass." with Drax replying "Yeah, that's right." Poor Tony has a ThousandYardStare that just just screams him questioning all of his life's choices.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* A very minor example appears in ''Literature/JohannesCabalTheDetective'' when Cabal describes someone as being in the middle of "derelicting" their duty. Leonie points out that there's no verb meaning "to derelict" and Cabal simply replies "there is now." A rare slip-up for Cabal, but justified that he's not a native English speaker.
* Trolls in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels are often Malapropers, especially Sergeant Detritus:
-->'''Detritus:''' He are not glad about being in a tent, as they say.\\
'''William de Worde:''' Has he ''ever'' been a happy camper?
** ''Lots'' of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' characters are given to malapropism, to the point of it being something of a RunningGag. This extends to their writing, in addition to YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe. Carrot in ''Literature/MenAtArms'' writes in a letter home that there are lots of new ''faeces'' in the Watch.
** ''Everyone'' in the Literature/{{Discworld}} says that "The leopard can't change his shorts, you know."
** Nanny Ogg had one as well with "the worm is on the other foot now!" (mixing 'the worm has turned' with 'the boot is on the other foot now')
** In ''Literature/WitchesAbroad'', Granny Weatherwax keeps [[CannotTellAJoke trying (and failing) to tell the "alligator sandwich" joke]], but she can't remember the punchline: "Get me an alligator sandwich, and make it quick!"
** "That was a pune, or play on words, you know!" (This comes from everyone, really, including [[TheGrimReaper Death]], for example.)
** ''Literature/TheLastHero'', Old Vincent is reported to have "choked to death on a concubine." When questioned as to whether Vincent would have been into that sort of thing in his late 80s, it's revealed he actually choked on a ''cucumber''...
** Sergeant Colon has a tendency to do this as well: In ''Literature/GuardsGuards'' he attempts to threaten people with "You're geography!" and "You're home economics!"; in ''Literature/MenAtArms'' he manages to turn "every soldier has a field-marshal's baton in his knapsack" into "a field-marshal's bottom in his napkin"; and in ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'' he claims that {{Uberwald}} is "[[ARiddleWrappedInAMysteryInsideAnEnigma a misery wrapped in an enema]]".
** In ''Literature/FeetOfClay'', a drunk Nobby tells Colon that he's not going to "sell m' birthright for a spot of massage". Colon, also drunk, says that Nobby means "a pot of message". A bystander corrects them both to "a mess of pottage", then wonders what a mess of pottage is anyway.
** Even ''Vetinari'' has malapropped, for example saying that [[Literature/GoingPostal Moist von Lipwig]] has "danced the sisal two-step" instead of the existing idiom of "the hemp fandango" or referring to a street fight as a "gang crumble" rather than "rumble". And also in ''Going Postal'', confusing "the glass ceiling" with "the Agatean Wall". Though with Vetinari, it's equally likely he's getting the phrases wrong on purpose, especially the second example. Perhaps most JustForFun/{{egregious}}ly, when discussing an incident involving a ship with the already-awkward name of the ''Wonderful Fanny'' in ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'', he accidentally refers to it as the ''Enormous Fanny''.
* Literature/LordPeterWimsey's mother often does this. From her diary:
-->I said to her, "Well, my dear, tell Peter what you feel, but do remember he's just as vain and foolish as most men and not a chameleon to smell any sweeter for being trodden on." On consideration, think I meant "camomile".
* Wobbler from ''Literature/JohnnyAndTheBomb'' always gets a joke about fast food and religion wrong. This is actually relevant to the plot at one point.
-->"Make me one with everything", he said, "because I want to become a Muslim."
* ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'': A character calls sex with the dead "narcophobia".
* In ''The Glasstown Game'' by Creator/CatherynneMValente, the soldier Gravey often mixes together two synonyms into one word, like "converscuss".
* A RunningGag with young Amy March in ''Literature/LittleWomen'', usually {{flanderiz|ation}}ed in the films. ("I know what I mean, and you needn't be 'statirical' about it! It's proper to use good words and improve your 'vocabilary'.")
* The protagonist of ''Literature/TheMuddleHeadedWombat'' has a tendency to get his words mixed up, such as reporting that his favorite fairy tale is "Cindergorilla".
* Billy Bunter of Literature/{{Greyfriars}} is wont to mangle any non-pedestrian word he is forced to repeat, coming out with monstrosities such as 'unparallelogramed' and 'voluntaciously'.
* The Duke de Beaufort in ''Literature/TwentyYearsAfter'' and ''Literature/TheVicomteDeBragelonne'' is famous for mixing up words like "affliction" and "affection", which nearly forces him into a duel on at least one occasion.
* In Dan Abnet's ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' novels ''Literature/{{Ravenor}}'' and ''Ravenor Returned'', Unwearth. Constantly. A sample: "I would be most ingratuitious if you were kindly permissive and removed your personable from my ship."
* In ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'', the Demoness Metria has a speech impediment where she often uses the wrong words for things (often a synonym of a homonym, such as "shoe" for [[OurSoulsAreDifferent soul]]). Then, the person she's talking to will usually say "what?" and she'll start listing synonyms for the word she means, and they'll finally suggest the word and she'll say "whatever". One time, she even gets the wrong word for demon: "We need more dybbuks!"
* Angela Caxton in Keith Waterhouse' ''Our Song'' well earns her affectionate pet name of "Lady Malaprop"
* Frau Stöhr in Thomas Mann's ''The Magic Mountain'' does this a lot. One notable example being her suggestion to play Music/LudwigVanBeethoven's 'Erotica' at the grave of a recently deceased fellow patient who was a soldier.
* Literature/HerculePoirot is prone to this due to the fact that he is a Belgian man unfamiliar with some English idioms. It is also suggested that he plays it up at times in order to lull the suspects of the crime he's investigating into a false sense of security around him.
* In ''Literature/TheMysteriousBenedictSociety'', minor character S.Q. Pedalian often attempts to use a {{Stock Phrase|s}} (such as "A stitch in time saves nine"), but messes it up ("A stitch in time saves time"). This is part of his characterization as "[[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} not the brightest bulb in the chandelier]]," which ends up helping the main characters in their mission more than once. He also has a tendency to combine words to make new ones, such as "astounded" and "astonished" into "astoundished." ([[spoiler:It's later revealed that he's as befuddled as he is because he has been continuously brainwashed to forget his dark feelings about the series villain, Ledroptha Curtain.]])
* Emily Thompson, one of the main characters of ''Literature/TheYearOfSecretAssignments'', is the queen of this trope, and gets called out on it often.
* In ''[[Literature/NurseryCrime The Fourth Bear]]'', {{cloudcuckoolander}} Lord Spooncurdle comments that someone reminds him of "a governess who ran off with the handsome young silver and half the family's boot boy."
* In ''[[Literature/ThursdayNext One of Our Thursdays is Missing]]'', Mrs. Malaprop from ''Theatre/TheRivals'' is one of the Bookworld characters, and her famed characteristic is exaggerated to the point that she must communicate entirely in malapropisms, which often requires that the reader sound out her sentences in order to understand her meaning.
-->'''Mrs. Malaprop:''' ''[in reference to a particularly annoying dodo]'' Eggs tincture is too good for the burred.
* Done a fair amount in ''Literature/WinnieThePooh'', imitating children's tendency to get it wrong. For example "Contradiction" instead of "introduction".
* A recurring gag in I.L. Caragiale's shorts and comedies will involve characters regularly mispronouncing and mixing up words, as a sign of illiteracy. One of the most well known examples is a policeman saying "enumeration" instead of "remuneration" or "capitalist" instead of "capital city".
* Eve Dallas in the ''Literature/InDeath'' series has an ongoing difficulty with idioms and figures of speech, frequently overthinking them and questioning their meanings, or using them slightly off-kilter; for instance, in ''Vengeance In Death'' she accuses Roarke of getting on a "golden horse" instead of a "high horse." Combined with her tendency toward PopCulturalOsmosisFailure, this seems to come from Eve being pretty poorly-socialized up until adulthood, as well as having an overly analytical mind and a general preference for blunt, straightforward honesty.
* ''Literature/HankTheCowdog'' runs on this trope.
* In ''Literature/TenSixtySixAndAllThat'', this is the predominant form of humor. The "Errata" page is illustrative, though it barely scratches the surface:
-->P. 3. ''For'' Middletoe ''read'' Mistletoe.\\
P. 9. ''For'' looked 4th ''read'' looked forth.\\
P. 44. ''For'' sausage ''read'' hostage.\\
''For'' Pheasant ''read'' Peasant, throughout
* Leo Rosten's H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N stories depict a malaprop farm: immigrants from all over the world, learning English at night school.
* Advised against in ''Literature/HowNotToWriteANovel''; "You may think the occasional slip-up won't matter, but the language you choose is the clothing in which your novel is draped, and saying 'incredulous' when you mean 'incredible' is the prose equivalent of walking into a meeting wearing your underwear on the outside."
* ''Literature/ChocoholicMysteries'':
** Lee has a tendency to accidentally say the wrong word when she's nervous. She's annoyed by this trait, feeling it makes her sound like she's stupid; in ''Cat Caper'', she actually thinks to herself that if she's going to have a speech impediment, she'd rather have a lisp, since at least people would recognize that as a problem.
** Mikki White, introduced in ''Pirate Plot'', has the same problem.
* ''Literature/{{Archvillain}}'': The mysterious plasma which gave Mike superpowers also scrambled his brains a bit, leading to him using the wrong words a lot.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Clue}}'': Mr. Boddy suffers from a blow to the head in the chapter "Dressed To Kill" of the 1990s book ''The Case of the Invisible Cat''. The next day, he's having a great deal of trouble using the right words.
* In the ''Literature/{{Clementine}}'' books, Clementine sometimes uses words like "astoundished" or "bore-dumb," or says things like that her friend Margaret "went all historical" on her.
* Happens roughly every paragraph in ''Literature/TheEyeOfArgon''.
* In ''[[Literature/{{Genome}} Cripples]]'', before the battle, Veronica brings Demian a shot of vodka, placing it in front of him on the firing controls, and telling him it's "100 grams for the boy". He once again tries to explain to her that the correct Ancient Russian (it's the distant future) saying is "100 grams before a battle". He has no idea how "battle" got turned into "boy" over the centuries, while she tries to explain it through some psychological mumbo-jumbo. In fact, it has to do with the Russian word for "battle" being "boy" (бой), meaning someone transliterated the word into English instead of translating it. And also could she please stop putting liquids on the damn firing control panel before a battle?!
* Joey from "Literature/JoeyAMechanicalBoy" refers to [[ADateWithRosiePalms masturbating]] as "master painting." [[AllPsychologyIsFreudian Naturally]], Bettelheim assumes that this is deliberate obfuscation to further separate himself from the world.
* Alessia from ''Literature/TheMister'', due to her incomplete grasp of the English language, has a tendency to do this, most notably referring to smartphones as "clever phones".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'', Bullet Luckfield has a terrible habit of screwing up Japanese idioms, as it's not his native language. This is not helped by the fact that a fellow American keeps supplying him with intentionally bad idioms.
** Not to mention Excellen "Float like a flutterby, sting like a flea" Browning.
* Abercrombie Fizzwidget of ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando'' was a caricature of this. Although [[spoiler:it is revealed at the end that Captain Qwark was impersonating him the whole time; the real Abercrombie Fizzwidget speaks perfect English. Qwark was trying to impersonate someone with a larger vocabulary than his own, and all his attempts to complexitize his languification resulted in confusified speechitude]].
* Yangus from ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'' occasionally slips into this, [[DelusionsOfEloquence attempting to separate himself from other bandits by sounding "smart"]].
* In ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'', early-game boss/job contact Lukan the Witless has this as his shtick. If you're wondering about the epithet, he named himself that -- for he is merciless and without humor, thus, Wit-less. Attempts to correct his abuse of the English language are met with obliviousness or initiation of combat, depending on how blunt you are.
* Half the fun of the otherwise SurprisinglyGoodEnglish in ''VideoGame/MetalWolfChaos'' is the President of the United States' awkward one-liners. This includes such gems as "I'll make you just like perforated cheese!" and was entirely unintentional.
* Beat from ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' slips into this on occasion.
* The Orc nobleman Lord Rugdumph in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' does this all the time. [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Oblivion_2008-04-21_19-31-03-45.jpg "I am Lord Rugdumph gro-Shurgak. How may I persist you?"]]
* The Heavy Weapons Guy in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', being a [[HuskyRusskie stereotypical Russian]], has a fairly good grasp of English that fails him when he gets excited. Probably the most JustForFun/{{egregious}} instance is his mangling of "That's a real kneeslapper" to "That slaps me on the knee".
** The Soldier is a CloudCuckoolander who has a severe inability to pronounce words properly, constantly mangling the names of literary characters and other such things on a regular basis. On the other hand, that might just be the lead poisoning speaking.
* Barnum of ''VideoGame/FableII'' puts a bit too much stock in his trusty thesaurus without understanding the meaning or nuances of many of the words he tosses about. He gets better, though, [[spoiler: Riiight before Reaver removes a vital portion of his brain and decorates his house with it]].
* In ''VideoGame/StarControl3'', the K'Tang. Every chance they get. "We are the K'Tang! Identificate yourselves imminently!"
* Professor Ort-Meyer in ''VideoGame/HitmanCodename47'' mangles his metaphors horribly ("I was standing on the shoulders of midgets!" for example), nearly (due to cuts in the production process) causing the protagonist to remark "Madness and mixed metaphors. There's really no hope for him." (The quote can be found in game files, but doesn't appear in the game proper.)
* Redd White from ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'', who would bungle words in order to make himself seem more impressive. (This is a {{Woolseyism}} - in the original Japanese, he speaks GratuitousEnglish.)
** Zinc Lablanc from ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'', being a [[FunnyForeigner Punny Derringer]], mangles English idiomatic phrases, followed by remarking "Yes, I think that is how you say it!" On one occasion, Edgeworth corrects his use of "Fox in the duck pen!", replying "It's 'fox guarding the henhouse'."
** In ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'', the Judge describes himself as "the great Poker-Head of Courtroom No. 3". Apollo thinks he probably meant "poker-face".
* Donny, the sign-in guy from the 2011 version of ''VideoGame/YouDontKnowJack''. Older games had "Gibberish Questions" where players tried to translate one into the proper phrase.
* [[MadScientist The Think Tank]] from the ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' add-on, ''Old World Blues'' have a problem with this? That's unpossible! Doctor Mobius, however, has it quiet, quiet bad.
** Dr. 0 even gets mad if you correct him.
-->"O really? Now [[PlayerCharacter the Lobotomite]] is master of the dictionary arts. What, do you have a doctorate in verbology? No? I do."
** The PlayerCharacter can be like this if the intelligence is 3 or lower.
--->"I is scientistic"
--->"Do flowers of Pock-Lips and NCR bear play together?"
* Sister Theohild makes various food-related malapropisms when reciting the Chant of Light in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins''.
-->'''Sister Theohild:''' Those who bring ham without provocation to the least of His children are breaded and accursed by the Maker.\\
'''Mother Perpetua:''' "Those who bring ham"? And the Maker does not ''bread'' sinners!
* Though not pronounced wrongly, ''VideoGame/BrainDead13'' has Lance's "ItsPersonal" speech [[spoiler:in the final confrontation]], which has prompted this exchange in LetsPlay/ObscureGameTheatre's LetsPlay:
-->'''Lance:''' ''[to Dr. Neurosis]'' Hey, [[AccidentalMisnaming New-free!!!]] It's just me and you!!!\\
'''Frankomatic:''' Uh, "It's just you and me!" sounds better, Lance.
* In ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'', Elizabeth lapses into malapropisms frequently as a part of her overall RaisedByWolves characterization. She doesn't seem to realize what words she's actually saying, though, leading to [[RunningGag recurring]] ChainOfCorrections-style dialogue:
-->'''Elizabeth:''' I believe our encounter has borne much flute.
-->'''Yu:''' "Flute"...?
-->'''Elizabeth:''' ...Flue? ...Chimneys?
* [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] himself, aside from the thick Italian accent. In the computer game [[VideoGame/MariosGameGallery Mario's FUNdamentals]], Mario has a rather tenuous grasp on the English language in this game, leading to strange turns of phrases. For example of one such quirk, he'll often use "I'm-a" when he should be using "I" "I'm-a like-a [game of choice]" "I'm-a lost". Tellingly, this aspect of the way Mario talked was largely abandoned in the years to come.
* Stuffwell of ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'' has a habit of taking two words, either of which would be perfectly appropriate in-context, and fusing them into strange compound words.
* One gag in VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub has Sayori bungling the word "retribution" after she gets caught trying to trick the player character into buying a snack for her.
-->'''Sayori:''' [after a cookie hits her in the face] I-Is this a miracle? It's because I paid my restitution!\\
'''Protagonist:''' Retribution...\\
'''Yuri:''' Actually, that one almost worked...
* At one point in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', Bartz mixes up the words "psychically" and "psychotically," to Galuf's embarrassment.
* Little Yuri does this in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChroniclesRingOfFates''. He calls a woman who seems to know a lot a "clair-voyeur" and describes himself and Chelinka as "practically adulterous."[[note]]he meant just "adult[[/note]]
* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfFinalFantasy'', Lann is this to the point of it being a RunningGag.
-->'''Lann''': Tama?
-->'''Tama''': I believe the word you're looking for is "preordained."
-->'''Lann''': Right! There's no way all of this could have been preordinated.
* Tidus famously does this in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' when the party is discussing how Seymour went to Macalania Temple. He instead refers to it as ''Macarena'' Temple.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonballXenoverse'', male created characters using voice option #8 mispronounce attack names left and right. Quite fitting, since the voice is based on (and performed by) the ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' version of [[StupidEvil Nappa]].
--> "Ten to the Kamehame-HO!"
* During the April Fool's Day event in ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing: New Leaf'', where the faceless cat Blanca impersonates your villagers and you have to guess which is the real villager and which is Blanca in disguise, uchi villagers will ''try'' to say that their imposter is a doppelganger. Emphasis on the word "try."
-->'''Villager''': Another me popped outta nowhere! She's a doppel...wopple...waffle... Wafflehanger! [...] Don't be fooled, <player>! I'm the real deal! She's the...waffle gangster! Can't you tell?
* In ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'', Qui the Promoter is a champion Malaproper. If the player character tries to call him on it, he references PerfectlyCromulentWord.
* ''VideoGame/ShantaeAndThePiratesCurse'':
** Shantae dresses up as a pirate, and has this little gem when she tries to shove off:
---> '''Shantae''': Moist the main snail! Keep the port blubber!
** Bolo does this at times as part of his nature as TheDitz. For example, if you talk to him [[spoiler:in Propeller Town after delivering the Targeting Module]].
---> '''Bolo''': The breath up here is GREAT for my fresh air!
* In ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'', both Sigma and Phi do this. When Sigma does it, he gets called out by Phi. Later, [[NotSoAboveItAll Phi does this]] by saying "take the piss out of a lime" instead of "as a way to pass the time" and similarly gets called out for her mistake.
* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' has a few characters who are prone to these due to their unfamiliarity with the local language.
** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem New Mystery of the Emblem]]'' has Athena, whose VampireVords and insistence on referring to herself in plural only make things worse.
---> '''Athena''': Ve vill apologise vith our life.\\
'''Kris''': Excuse me? No no, you used the wrong word again. Didn't you mean "thank", instead of "apologize"?
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', meanwhile, has the Russian-accented mercenary Gregor, who uses a malaproper practically every other sentence.
--->'''Gregor''': Is just, how you say, flatulence? No, wait. ...Flippery? ...Flatness? ...Gregor does not remember. Is that word when people say lies to make other person feel better.
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', Petra, a princess of Brigid who's unfamiliar with the language of Fodlan, often makes these kinds of mistakes. For example, if few of her stats improve after she levels up, she says, "I must not misplace my heart," when she should be saying "lose heart."
* Shortly after the film's release, the Commodore 64 computer was released in a special pack containing the game adaptation of ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay''. However, rather than riffing off of Arnold's catchphrase and proclaiming, "I'm back", the box [[MangledCatchphrase proudly announced that,]] [[http://imgur.com/Oadq0PK "I've returned."]]
* Goofy in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' games does this occasionally, such as saying "muddling" instead of "meddling" and "traffic system" instead of "transit system". In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Doc]] does it too, just like in the original movie.
** Pete is also prone to them in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded Kingdom Hearts Re:coded]]'' due to his unfamiliarity with computing terms, resulting in him coming up with words like "data-matronics".
** Beat does this a couple of times in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', just like in [[VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou his native game]]. Specifically, he says "inverse psychiatry" instead of "reverse psychology", and "garnish my reputation" instead of "tarnish".
* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'': The alien L'cirufe taught himself English by studying human literature, and he's practically fluent as a result, but whenever he tries to use an idiom, he screws it up somehow. Perhaps most famously, referring to a group of enemy aliens as "asscaves".
-->'''L''': This pleases us greatly! Truly we are on the ninth cloud of seventh heaven!
* ''VideoGame/DragaliaLost'': Curran has a tendency to mix up his words. In the Japanese version, it was just him biting his tongue, but in English, we get gems like "Heretics, like beauty, are in the eye of the buttholder."
-->'''Notte''': Heh... buttholder.
* In ''VideoGame/ResonanceOfFate,'' Gangster enemies taunt the party members by telling them that they're "Gonna have more holes than a beehive." It's probably swiss cheese they're thinking of.
* ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'': Ravel Puzzlewell has a VerbalTic of confusing words with their homophones, causing her to go on tangents while she looks for the right one. [[ObfuscatingInsanity Despite this oddity of speaking she's shown to have a very sharp mind]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* The titular character from ''Anime/CrayonShinChan'' does this a lot. Such as saying "Welcome home" when he comes home and "I'm leaving" when someone else comes back. In the gag dub, when Georgie asks Shin if his mother goes to any [[spoiler:drunken sex parties]] he mixes it up by replying that he doesn't know if she goes to any [[spoiler:drunken insect parties]].
* Minako Aino from ''Manga/SailorMoon'' already was this in the original ''Manga/CodenameSailorV'' manga, where she cuts a MonsterOfTheWeek in two… but calls said punishment ''{{seppuku}}'' ([[LampshadeHanging Artemis is not amused]]). This trait is taken to RunningGag levels in the first ''Sailor Moon'' anime.
* ''Franchise/MyHime'':
** Haruka Suzushiro often had to be corrected by Yukino Kikukawa. In ''Anime/MyOtome'', Yukino Chrysant, now a president of a republic, carried a ''megaphone'' for the sole purpose of correcting the malapropisms of her Otome, Haruka Armitage.
** Sara Gallagher, first of the Five Columns, also gets in on this from time to time.
--->'''Haruka:''' All right, it's show time! We'll destroy this median!\\
'''Yukino:''' It's "meteoroid--" ''[interrupted by Sara]''\\
'''Sara:''' It's "meteroid", Haruka-[[OneeSama onee-sama]]. You're the mission leader, so please act like one.
%%* Kurata Sana from ''Manga/{{Kodocha}}''.
* Angol Moa from ''Manga/SgtFrog'' tends to punctuate her sentences with "Teyuuka", which is usually "translated" as "It's like…" or "You could say...", followed by a Japanese idiom that's almost, but not quite, appropriate to the situation.
* ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCure'': Saki from ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar''. A RunningGag is her mispronouncing Shitaare's name every. single. time. [[AccidentalMisnaming Which never fails to piss her off.]]
* Hermes of ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'' occasionally mixes up his "idioms".
* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'': In addition to her KansaiRegionalAccent, Ayumu "Osaka" Kasuga has a tendency toward amusing mispronunciation and vocabulary confusion, especially of any non-Japanese words.
* Yotsuba from ''Manga/{{Yotsuba}}'' mangles words and creates {{portmanteau}} words like "Yotsubox" for "Yotsuba's box" -- just as you'd expect from a five-year-old.
* Tsukasa Domyoji in all versions of ''Manga/BoysOverFlowers''. In the manga, other characters have even [[BreakingTheFourthWall broken the fourth wall]] to point out his inability to speak certain simple words in Kanji (as represented in his speech bubble).
* Dan from ''Anime/{{Basquash}}!'' has an amazing tendency to mispronounce the names of people and places. He easily crosses into AccidentalMisnaming territory with several characters because of this.
* Eve from ''Manga/{{Needless}}'' does this a LOT - though in her case she not only mangles speech, but ''[[AccidentalMisnaming renames characters on a whim]]'', often with arguments from the victim. HilarityEnsues. She does this so often that ''other characters'' eventually start using the alternate names, the victim eventually just accepts it as a nickname.
* The Medicine Seller from ''Anime/{{Mononoke}}'' does a malapropism in the 6th episode by mixing up two different Japanese idioms. Justified in that it's more than a bit apparent he's NotQuiteHuman.
* Bankotsu from ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'' is a rare villainous example. One of his first scenes has him messing up the kanji he's supposed to write in a letter to an old enemy ''several times'', and he ultimately has to ask TheEvilGenius from his group for help.
* At one point in ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'', Skuld is attempting to purchase a mannequin from a store. She offers all the money she has, and says that if it's not enough she'll sell her body. Cue shocked silence from all involved (Skuld appears to be a little girl, after all) until her older sister Belldandy informs her that the proper saying is "I'll work it off."
* Seems to be one of [[WhoNamesTheirKidDude Atom]]'s quirks in ''Anime/MarginalNumber4''.
* Yamagata in the ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' manga can't seem to contain his "indigestion" [[note]]"indignation"[[/note]] and finds no problem "discussing" it loudly.
* Non-spoken example: Tomokane from ''Manga/GAGeijutsukaArtDesignClass'' has a hard time reading and writing kanji. So when the art stream curriculum included typography...
* Some of Shampoo's speech from ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' one notable example "Why you have to be such a sexy pig?!" (she meant sexist pig).
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** Luffy tends to do this with some frequency. Though this is differently translated between the manga and anime: for example when Kaya gives them the Going Merry, Luffy says "Wow, you're sure adding injury to insult, Miss Kaya!" in the manga and in the anime says "It leaves nothing to be tired." Zoro immediately corrects him ("[Try adding icing to the cake]/[That's nothing to be desired] moron.").
** Another example his when Luffy sees Bellemere's grave and says "condolences" incorrectly several times before the mayor helps him out. This situation was a little different in that Luffy can tell that he is saying the wrong word to some degree.
** He also remarks, in one episode of the anime, "That's my polisuu!" Sanji then replies "What the heck is a polisuu? You mean policy (same word in Japanese as it is in English), don't you?"
** Franky tends to mishear any similar enough word as Hentai/Pervert, and ask if the speaker is talking to him.
** Some of Franky's underlings walk around Water 7, announcing that they've captured Usopp[[note]]Not only do they not know that he's left the crew, but they also don't know that Franky was so moved by Usopp's devotion to the Going Merry that he isn't treating Usopp like a hostage at all[[/note]] while demanding that Luffy show himself if he doesn't want Usopp to come to harm. Unfortunately, one Franky Family member gets the words wrong("If you don't want us to think you like emotion" as opposed to "If you don't want us to sink him in the ocean."), resulting in the threat coming off as more comedic than intimidating.
** A RunningGag from [[Anime/ClockworkIslandAdventure the second movie]], has Pin Joker constantly misquoting idioms only to be corrected.
* Kamui from ''Anime/CardfightVanguard'' often does this when he tries to say big words.
* In ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', Yusei adjusts Rua and Ruka's adult-sized duel disks to fit their tiny arms. Amazed, Rua thanks him for "cutmonsizing" their duel disks, then Ruka says the right word is "customizing".
* Shino from ''Manga/SeitokaiYakuindomo'' will occasionally blurt out really obscene things that sound similar to more innocuous phrases, such as saying kinbaku (rope bondage) when she's talking about the Kinkaku temple. Given [[LovableSexManiac her personality]], it's difficult to tell if she does it on purpose.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Omi from ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' as well as ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinChronicles''. There are '''multiple''' moments where Omi says something, and the casts, sometimes ''including the villain'', stops whatever they were doing and try to figure out what the heck Omi just said. And in one episode, Raimundo suggests that [[AnAesop the lesson for the day]] is "Omi can't use slang."
-->'''Raimundo:''' What Omi just did to that sentence is what we're going to do to you!
* Early Cuyler of ''WesternAnimation/{{Squidbillies}}''.
-->'''Early:''' Where do I see myself in five beers?\\
'''Sheriff:''' No, "years", ''"years"!''\\
'''Early:''' Uh, I dunno. Jail?\\\
'''Dan Halen:''' Lets talk briefly about your work ethic\\
'''Early:''' Well, I don't think ethnics do no work. I mean, that's they problem, really. If you ain't like me, go hang from a damn tree.
%%* ComicBook/{{Starfire}} from ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', more so in the cartoon version.
%%* Linka from ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers''. Ma-Ti from the same show has a few of these as well.
%%* Mikey Simon on ''WesternAnimation/KappaMikey''.
* All the babies in ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' do this, even the more mature Angelica. Most of the babies' internal logic in this show was based on malapropisms and the sheer willingness of everyone else to believe they were telling the truth. Occasionally subverted, though, as sometimes Angelica says a malapropism and the babies repeat back the right word.
%%* Exile from ''WesternAnimation/RoadRovers''.
* Jim Moralès from ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko''. Sissi delves into this too.
** Aelita did it a couple of times during the time following her being brought into the real world. One memorable one was when she told Jeremie that he was "as stubborn as a fool" during an argument about her [=DJing=] the school dance. He corrects her, saying "It's stubborn as a mule!" but hers ''does'' make some sense.
* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'''s Lindsay does this mainly with names ("Kyle" for Chris, "Doug" for Duncan, and so on) and occasionally with other words (e.g. "dental" for "mental") as one of the most high-profile elements of her DumbBlonde stereotype. Beth also got into the act when she first arrived on the island and told Chris, "It's so incredulous to meet you!"
* TheButcher from ''WesternAnimation/WordGirl''. Mr. Big as well, though his is on purpose.
* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny is occasionally prone to being one of these, although it's usually a matter of him mispronouncing words rather than using the wrong ones.
** "What a maroon!"
*** "What an "im-BEH-cile", what an ultra maroon! (''Bully For Bugs'')
** "What is this, a blackout? I didn't hear no sireen!" (''Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk'')
** "I got an athlete's fizzy-cue." (''WesternAnimation/TortoiseWinsByAHare'')
** "Yoo-hoo! Mr. Pie-rate!" (''WesternAnimation/BuccaneerBunny'')
** "It's about time for me to employ a little stragedy." (''Bunny Hugged'')
** "Bon voyagey!" (any cartoon with a simulated sail-off)
** "Like the Romans say, E Pluribus Uranium! (''Roman Legion Hare'')
** "I am a little fat-i-gyoo-d" ("Transylvania 6-5000")
** in another short, he says that a bullet must have "ricoshateted"
** Red Hot Ryder, the dimbulb from ''WesternAnimation/BuckarooBugs'', doesn't so much deliver a malapropism as it is a non-sequitur:
--->'''Bugs:''' (''holding a carrot like a gun against Ryder's butt'') Stick 'em up! Or I'll blow your brains out!\\
'''Ryder:''' Well, that's mighty neighborly of ya!
** In "French Rarebit," Bugs tours Paris to see the "mon-sewers and madam weasels."
** In ''Falling Hare'', he learns that:
---> "The constant menace to pilots are the gremlins who wreck planes with their 'dia-bo-LI-cal saba-tagey'".
** In ''Ali Baba Bunny'', the thug guarding the treasure of Ali Baba is prone to this, repeatedly botching the phrase "OpenSesame" to enter the magic cave:
--->"Uh, Open Sasparilla? Open Saskatchewan? Open Septuagenarian? Open Saddlesoap?"
** Arch from the 1946 Sniffles cartoon "Hush My Mouse", who was a cartoon version of Ed Gardner's character Archie from the radio show ''Duffy's Tavern'' ("Well, if it ain't Eddie G. Robincat in the flesh and fantasy!")
*** In another, Sniffles mispronounces "etc." (et cetera) in one scene, or rather, he pronounces it exactly as it appears.
** ''Porky the Wrestler'' grappler Hugo Bernowskiwoskimowskiskowski:
--->'''Hugo:''' I fight anybody my heavy!
%%* Pugsy from ''WesternAnimation/{{Fangface}}''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'':
** In one episode, the Eds play a game of Truth or Dare and end up acting like one of the other Eds. Eddy ends up acting like Edd and tries to make himself sound smarter by using large words. Of course, since his vocabulary isn't as good as the real Edd's, he ends up making a lot of malapropisms.
--->'''Eddy:''' Excuse me, Eddy. May I fuel inject? [[ArtisticLicenseOrnithology Chickens cannot fly as they are mammals.]]
** In another episode:
--->'''Ed:''' Allow me to re-irritate.
* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'': "I'm going to give you two hits: Me hitting you in the face, and... me hitting you in the face again."
* [[CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys Antoine]] of ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM''. In his world, a fool is a fuel, bingo is pronounced gringo, and fertilizer is fraternizer.
* Blob from ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone'' wavers in and out of this depending on RuleOfFunny. [[DelusionsOfEloquence It seems to hit him the hardest when he's trying to sound either intelligent or authoritative.]]
* Peggy from ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' becomes this in Spanish.
** Truth be told, a lot of it is actually "Spanglish." ("Mayheecan," for example.)
** Her feeble grasp on the language frequently dips into MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels as long as RuleOfFunny applies.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "Telephonies" has the Gangreen Gang in the Mayor's office making prank phone calls at the cost of the dignity of Mojo Jojo, Fuzzy Lumpkins and Him until they've had enough and call the Mayor for action:
-->'''Big Billy:''' Hullo?\\
'''Him:''' Let me speak with the Mayor!\\
'''Big Billy:''' Uh, he's not in right now. Can I take a massage?
* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', Wakko Warner was prone to these. He once shouted at a man whom he thought was a magician to "pull a rabbit out of your pants!" (Then again, Wakko was also a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, so according to his thought processes, that might not even count as a mistake.) He and siblings also mispronounce longer words like skulecatary for secretary and "p-sychiatrist" for psychiatrist.
* Mrs Price in ''WesternAnimation/FiremanSam''.
-->'''Sam:''' Now make sure you don't leave that candle unattended.\\
'''Mrs Price:''' Of course, I'm very reprehensible.
* King Julien, TheDitz of ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'', doesn't exactly use the wrong words, but he's prone to mangling the actual form of the words. "No, I will not succeed. No-one will be sucking seed!"
* Tish's mom from ''WesternAnimation/TheWeekenders'' like for instance "fishing model" instead of fashion model, leading to her CatchPhrase of "Is what I say" any time this is pointed out to her and/or Tish translates for her.
* Don Karnage of ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' is notorious for mangling the English language.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'':
** Duck turns "revolutionary" into "revo-thinga-gummy," and "sagacious" into "good-gracious."
** Edward introduces the others to the word "deputation," which over the episode is turned into "depot station," "desperation," and "disputation."
** Percy interprets "teething troubles" as "a toothache."
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
** An early RunningGag had Principal Skinner making these. For example, in "Simpsons Roasting On an Open Fire", he says "melody" instead of "medley".
** Ralph Wiggum. ''Him'' fail English? Definitely not "unpossible." He also calls Superintendent Chalmers "Super Nintendo Chalmers" in "Lisa Gets an A".
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''
** In early episodes the kids had trouble pronouncing long words, like hermaphrodite.
** Also, in Officer Barbrady's debut in "Chickenlover", when admitting that he can't read, he exclaims "I'm illegitimate!"
** In "Sexual Harassment Panda" Craig refuses to answer Mr. Garrison's question on the grounds that it may "incinerate" him before Mr. Broflovski tells him the correct word.
* ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop''. Goofy and Pete are both habitual Malapropers. Goofy would typically use real words that were the wrong word ("decimated driver", "you're ''historical''"), but Pete would do a mix of that, mixing two words together, and giving an incomprehensible phrase such as "Do as I think not mean what I say." To hilarious effect in the second episode, when their sons [[ZanyScheme emulated their fathers' behavior so that they would be allowed to be friends]], PJ (who is typically rather eloquent) incorporated the malapropisms. Pistol did this in at least one episode, when she mentioned [[UsefulNotes/AmeliaEarhart Amelia "Airhead"]] as an example of girls who can fly.
** In the ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' short "How To Be a Gentleman", this happens to Goofy as his botched attempts to greet the Queen of England result in numerous blows to his head from her scepter.
--->'''[[LemonyNarrator Narrator:]]''' One should bow gracefully and say, "my dear Queen, how delightful to make your acquaintance".\\
'''Goofy:''' My queer dean, how delightful to acquaint your maintenance.\\
''(the queen bashes him on the head so hard that he falls and a lump grows on his head...followed by several more lumps growing from said lump)''
* From the ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'' cartoon "The Natural Thing To Do":
-->'''Olive:''' Er... let's converse.\\
'''Bluto:''' Hey! I hear conversing is comin' back!\\
'''Popeye:''' Yeah. And convoisin' breaks up the monopoly of not talkin'!
** In ''Goonland'' Popeye finds his imprisioned Pappy, who doesn't want anything to do with him. Through his tears Popeye moans "Ohh, he don't know his own skin an' bones!"
* At the end of the ''WesternAnimation/MikeLuAndOg'' episode "Giant Steps", Mike is told the truth about the "giant" that's coming to the island.
-->'''Wendell:''' It's a metabolical statement.\\
'''Og:''' Metaphorical.\\
'''Wendell:''' Yeah, that too.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheNewScoobyDooMovies'' episode "The Caped Crusader Caper", Professor Flaky often mixes up sayings.
-->'''Professor Flaky:''' I like Shaggy because he's dumb to kind animals.\\
'''The Penguin:''' That's kind to ''dumb'' animals! Dumb, dumb, dumb!
* Peridot of ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' does this from time to time. Mostly due to [[JustifiedTrope not being from Earth and not really interacting with humans outside of Steven]].
* From ''WesternAnimation/BrandyAndMrWhiskers'':
-->'''Mr. Whiskers:''' I'm no fighter, I'm a pacifier!\\
''[cut to a live-action shot of a baby sucking on a pacifier shaped like Whiskers's head]''\\
'''Mr. Whiskers:''' You know what I mean.
* On ''WesternAnimation/WildAnimalBabyExplorers'', Sammy the Skunk is this, but only because he's younger than the other characters and therefore is still learning the right words.
-->'''Skip:''' We are a looking at a hippopotamus.\\
'''Sammy:''' Hippo... bottomus? Hipsomonoplus?\\
'''Skip:''' We can also just say "hippo."
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': D.W. does this every now and then and is always immediately corrected by Arthur. Justified in that she is four years old. For example, in "Feeling Flush", she confuses "water conservation" for "water conversation".
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': Stumpy, [[CrapsaccharineWorld Smileyland]]'s resident [[TheDitz idiot]], does this quite frequently. For example, he refers to a library as a "liblerary", and thinks [[TheSmartGuy Mr. Cat]] is
"intelligious".
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
--> '''Joey Mousepad:''' What if management remains intragnisant[[labelnote:*]]Likely trying to say "Intransigent", meaning "inflexible" or "uncompromising".[[/labelnote]]?\\
'''Donbot:''' From the context, it is clear what you mean.
* From ''WesternAnimation/TheDickTracyShow'' episode "The Casbah Express":
-->'''Joe Jitsu:''' Parting is such sweet and sour.
* ''WesternAnimation/PunkyBrewster'': "The Quartersize Quarterback" has Glomer making a forward pass of a football to Allen, to whom he has given the abilities of a pro player.
-->'''Glomer:''' Allen! Catch toeball!\\
'''Punky:''' ''Foot''ball, Glomer!
* In ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'', characters would sometimes confuse their words with similar-sounding ones.
** In "The Cow with Four Eyes", Chicken replies to Cow telling him he needs a prescription in order to have glasses by saying "So I'll ''get'' a subscription".
** In "Comet", Cow says "posterior" when she meant "posterity".
* Buzz is this on ''WesternAnimation/BeatBugs'', sometimes. In "Let it Be," for example, she meets a firefly called Mother Mary that she calls her "cardigan angel."
* In "Nancy vs Dudley" from ''WesternAnimation/FancyNancy'', [=JoJo=] misconstrues the Eiffel Tower as the "Awful Tower." At first, Nancy is annoyed, but later after she realizes that she wants [=JoJo=] to play with her and asks what she wants to play, she quite happy to agree with [=JoJo=]'s request: "Let's build the Awful Tower."
* In the ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' episode "[[Recap/ReadyJetGoS2E21MoonCircusEveryDayIsEarthDay Every Day Is Earth Day]]”, Carrot mistakes "toaster" for "poster" and presents a toaster instead of a poster at the DSA celebration, much to Mr. Peterson's annoyance.
* ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'':
** Tigger of the various Disney incarnations is a master malaproper.
--->'''Tigger''': (''regarding Rabbit'') Well, you know ol' cotton-bottom. He's the self-deficient type. Ya' know, a real do-it-without-ya kinda guy.
** In "Buster's Buried Treasure" on ''WesternAnimation/MyFriendsTiggerAndPooh'', Lumpy repeatedly uses the phrase "gold balloon" in place of "gold doubloon."
* Sol from ''WesternAnimation/SonsOfButcher'' is infamous for [[IncrediblyLamePun butchering]] quotes, giving such "wisdom" as "My father who does art in heaven", "Desperate times call for separate pleasures", "I'll welcome death with open legs", and "Take it sleazy!"
* [[Recap/BojackHorsemanS1E04ZoesAndZeldas Season 1, Episode 4]] of ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' has three separate people butcher the idiom ''"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me"'':
** First Mr Peanutbutter:
--->Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice...fiddle-dee-dee.
** Then Virgil van Cliff:
--->Fool me once, shame on you, but teach a man to fool me, and I'll be fooled for the rest of my life.
** And finally, Todd:
--->Fool me once, fool me twice, fool me chicken soup with rice.
* ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'': From "Public Enemy No. 1," where DM has amnesia and Baron Greenback makes him think he's a bandit called the White Shadow, Greenback learns that somebody has beaten him to crimes he was planning:
-->'''Stiletto:''' The White Mouse. Danger Shadow. You know...your lifelong anniversary.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "[=SpongeBob's Road to Christmas=]", after [=SpongeBob=] tells Plankton "You just gotta believe", Patrick repeats, "You just gotta bleed".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheEternalLove'': Xiao Tan announces she's "so fettered". Jing Xin has to explain she means "flattered".
* ''Series/PerfectStrangers'' made this a running gag for the character of Balki Bartokomous, from mixing two different phrases together (such as mixing the last line of the United States national anthem with a [[Advertising/TheBurgerKing Burger King]] slogan, "Land of the free, home of the whopper") to using the wrong word at a particular point in a sentence ("Cousin Larry's going to become a professional lesbian" instead of "Cousin Larry's going to become a professional ''thespian''" or actor). [[http://www.perfectstrangers.tv/balkiisms.htm A fansite has a season-by-season list of these twists of phrase known by fans of the series as "Balkisms"]].
* This happens a lot on ''Series/{{Workaholics}}'', because the guys are all idiots, and even Ders who seems of somewhat average intelligence, is ignorant on a lot of things. In one episode, Adam says "Elementary School, my dear Emma Watson."
* ''Series/TheElectricCompany1971'': Combined with ChainOfCorrections for one of the recurring skits, nicknamed "Giggles, Goggles." Here, two people usually Rita Moreno and Judy Graubart having a typcial conversation when one of them (usually Moreno) misuses a word in simple everyday language. For instance, "Hey, I really enjoy going to Larry's every morning to enjoy those buttermilk ''flack'' jacks and sausage." The other woman (usually Graubart) would point out to her friend the incorrect usage of the word ("You mean ''flap''jacks"), to which Moreno would then misuse the new word. ("No, flap is a type of bulb you put on a camera when you take pictures in a dark room. A ''flap'' bulb.") The chain repeats for several words, usually six to eight, until Moreno arrives back at the original word ("flap"), before adding, "That's what I was trying to tell you!" leaving Graubart to sigh in frustration.
* ''Series/FamilyMatters'': A frequent recurring joke with Waldo Faldo was his misunderstanding of simple questions (e.g., "State your name." "Illinois.") to using the incorrect word at a particular point in a sentence (e.g., when he learns Myra was seen heading toward a convent (to visit her aunt), Waldo -- also mis-concluding that she's planning on entering the sisterhood -- says that Myra was going to a "'''convoy'''.")
-->'''Waldo:''' If you cut me, do I not sneeze?\\
'''Steve:''' ... Oh my God. I think I understood that.
* ''Series/KenanAndKel'': In "The Raffle", Kel mistook the word "raffle" for "waffle". [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike The delivery man did this too]].
-->'''Chris:''' We are gonna have a raffle!\\
'''Kel:''' I love raffles, especially with a lot of maple syrup and butter!\\
'''Kenan:''' Kel, that's a waffle. Chris is talking about a raffle.
* In ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'':
** Kramer once used the expression "Endora's Box," meaning "PandorasBox". Jerry pointed out that Endora was the mother on ''Series/{{Bewitched}}''.
** In the episode "The Cafe", he insists that the term "statute of limitations" is actually "''statue'' of limitations", even after being corrected by both Jerry and Elaine.
* Teal'c from ''Series/StargateSG1'' has a deadpan delivery that makes many of these not-quite-right sayings hilarious. Example:
-->"Things will not calm down, Daniel Jackson. They will in fact calm ''up''."
** [[http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Teal%27c#Humor There is a list.]]
** He eventually gets better about this as he acclimates to Earth's culture, but occasionally uses the phrase "undomesticated equines could not remove me" as an intentional CallBack to this behavior.
** Other alien and non-native human characters display similar oddities. For example, at one point, Jack O'Neill mentions that he "full well expected the other shoe to drop eventually." To this, [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Thor]] replies, "We can only hope this will be the last footwear to fall." Of course, Thor has had enough experience with humans that he probably understood O'Neill's meaning and made a slight joke about it, given that they really don't want any more shoes to drop (i.e. something else bad to happen) on them given their situation.
** Ba'al also does this once after having spent nearly a year on Earth, and denies the attempt to correct him.
--->'''Ba'al''': Of course, how does the saying go? "All flash, no photo?"\\
'''Samantha Carter''': Actually, it's "All flash, no substance."\\
'''Ba'al''': I prefer my version.
*** Ba'al knows more about human (or, at least, American) culture than he lets on. After all, he managed to become the CEO of a major company.
* A big schtick of Roxy Balsom's in ''Series/OneLifeToLive''
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' had a sketch where a man frequently couldn't get words right, usually replacing them with outlandish substitutes.
-->'''Man:''' You'd just be talking and out'll pudenda the wrong word and ashtray's your uncle. So I'm really strawberry about it.
:: Subverted at the end with[=:=]
-->'''Man:''' It's so embarrassing when my wife and I go to an orgy.\\
'''Doctor:''' A party?\\
'''Man:''' No, an orgy. We live in Esher.
* Data from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' falls into the idiom version a couple of times -- swapping words with synonyms such that he's technically saying the same thing (and he's always spot-on as far as accurate synonyms) but completely bungling the delivery of the familiar idiom. In one episode, he tells Doctor Crusher that he may be "pursuing an untamed ornthoid without cause"[[note]]on a wild goose chase[[/note]] and another time suggests that completing a task may require them to "ignite the midnight petroleum"[[note]]burn the midnight oil[[/note]].
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'':
** Crichton's constant use of Earth slang, colloquial expressions, and cultural references is a constant source of annoyance to his crewmates. (One theory is that he just wanted to make them feel as mystified as life in their part of the universe made him feel.) To make him feel at home, some of them decide to try mimicking him.
** D'Argo manages to master some of the more frequent expressions after a period of adjustment ("I'd rather go down on a swing" becomes "I'd rather go down swinging" after enough practice).
** Aeryn, possibly because she's not given to ''any'' sort of slang to begin with messes them up whenever she tries ("I'm up with that"; "She gives me a woody" [the intended saying was "willies"]). (Despite actually studying to do it, she also has trouble with English when trying to say it without TranslatorMicrobes: "I'm getting a bad bribe--" "Oh Lord, she's talkin' English!" This could be seen as her continuing her malapropismic habits due to actually trying the language they're in, rather than just trying the actual meaning.)
** There's a lovely example in ''Terra Firma'' when Noranti and Rygel are enjoying popcorn and Noranti calls it "cop porn".
* Archie from ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' was prone to doing this. He used big words frequently and almost always [[http://www.archiebunkerquotes.com/1.html incorrectly]].
* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', "Time and the Rani", the Doctor temporarily became a Malaproper while recovering from the Rani drugging him:
-->'''Doctor:''' Well, time and tide melts the snowman.\\
'''Mel:''' "...waits for no man." \\
'''Doctor:''' Who's waiting? I'm ready.
** In the same serial he mentioned Mrs. Malaprop, as if he were conscious he was using malapropisms.
** This was going to be a permanent characteristic of the Seventh Doctor, but the production team saw sense.
** The Fourth Doctor, when recovering from electrocution in "The Android Invasion", deliriously recites the beginning of the Dormouse's story of the three sisters in the treacle well, from ''Literature/AliceInWonderland''. However he gives the sisters the names of Creator/AntonChekhov's ''Theatre/ThreeSisters''.
** Possibly a ShoutOut to the above, in one ''Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures'' novel, the Doctor says something is like a "sheep in a treacle well". He means "canary in a coal mine". There's no reason for it apart from the fact Eight is even more of a DitzyGenius than usual for the Doctor.
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'':
** Ziva David does this all the time (which is what earned her a FunnyForeigner nod). Played realistically, in that as time goes on she gets better about it, but still does it even after being in the US for years.
** It's hinted in at least one episode that [[ObfuscatingStupidity she does this intentionally to get people to underestimate her]].
** Averted in one episode, where she gets an idiom correct, saying "Perhaps we're barking up the wrong tree." Tony then tells her that the correct word to use is "bush," which causes the trope to be played straight, as she proceeds to say "barking up the wrong bush."
** Subverted when she sees [=McGee=] with a deep frown and says that he looks "constipated". Tony tells her that the word is "consternated", but Ziva clarifies that she thinks [=McGee=] looks like he's blocked up inside.
** Ocassionally exploited for laughs, as in one episode where Ziva says she hit a stone wall in the investigation. She is corrected and told the idiom is ''brick'' wall, but she clarifies that she ''literally'' hit a stone wall with a car while in pursuit.
* Ricky from ''Series/TrailerParkBoys''. A list of "Rickyisms" can be found [[http://trailerpark.wikia.com/wiki/Rickyisms here.]]
* Mike Hamar on ''Series/TheRedGreenShow'': "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, and the ''prostituting'' attorney..." You'd think he of all people would know how that phrase is supposed to go. [[StickyFingers He's definitely heard it enough times]].
* The mini-series ''Series/{{V 1983}}'' had the alien character Willie who was supposed to be sent to Israel, not California, so he's not that proficient at English and does this pretty much all the time.
* This is the favorite (non-CatchPhrase related) RunningGag in the Mexican comedy ''Series/ElChapulinColorado'', where the titular superhero Chapulín always manages to mix up two proberbs or sayings together. ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'' also did this sometimes, complete with [[OverlyLongGag prolonged "And what'd I say?" "[X]" "And what's the right way?" "[Y]" sequences]]. Although, one school episode had Godinez thinking Prof. Jirafales said "sonámbulos" (sleepwalkers) when he asked him "¿Qué son ángulos?" (What are angles?).
* ''Series/TheSopranos'':
** Tony Soprano has a tendency to do this, sometimes taking the words of his psychiatrist, Dr. Melfi, and completely mangling them.
** "Little" Carmine Lupertazzi is a particularly notorious example, to the point where other characters refer to him as Brainless the Second and exchange confused looks during one of his malapropism-riddled speeches.
--->'''Little Carmine:''' A pint of blood is worth more than a gallon of gold.\\
'''Little Carmine:''' We're in a fucking stagmire.\\
'''Little Carmine:''' You're very observant: the sacred and the propane.\\
'''Little Carmine:''' I give him his present, this mellifluous box.\\
'''Little Carmine:''' There's no stigmata connected with going to a shrink.\\
'''Little Carmine:''' You're at the precipice of an enormous crossroad.
** Also, Paulie Walnuts:
--->'''Paulie:''' That's why dinosaurs don't exist no more.\\
'''Paulie's Comàre:''' Wasn't it a meteor?\\
'''Paulie:''' They're all meat-eaters.
* Nina from ''Series/JustShootMe'' often mixes up her sayings. ("A bird in the hand is worth two if by sea." "Entre nous and Frère Jacques...")
* In almost every episode of ''Series/HomeImprovement'', Tim Taylor viciously mangled some piece of advice he received from his neighbor Wilson. "Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." became "If you teach a young fish to dance, once he gets real old he sticks with you forever." in one episode.
* George Francisco from the ''Series/AlienNation'' TV series, movies, and books is usually involved in the misquote or misuse of a common phrase, probably due to lack of cultural references to situate it properly. (This misuses are known by the fans as "Georgeisms".) In one of the movies, his wife has fallen victim of the trope.
** "Are you implying I am ''kitty-whipped''?!"
** What's great is how his partner Matt Sikes always corrects him, except the time he used one especially mangled idiom ("You look like what the cat dragon ate."), when Sikes just shook his head and let it go.
* Mrs Slocombe from ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'' claimed that the primordial ooze had "little orgasms" floating round. She called the Caribbean the "Caribbeano" and "apoplectic" was "apoploptic".
** She's also in the habit of using the words "obstropulus" and "igni-moan-ius"
** Don't forget her being "[[YouKeepUsingThatWord unanimous]]" in all her opinions. Technically true, but...
** After the UK's conversion to metric, she told Ms. Brahms that everything was measured in centipedes.
** "But I would ask you to remember that Parliament has passed the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_Discrimination_Act_1975 Sexual Relations Act]], which states that women are just as good at it as men!"
* Mrs. White in the first series of ''TabletopGame/{{Clue}}'', as played by June Whitfield. She had the tendency to secrete herself behind curtains and be filled with resource after terrible events. Though known to take the occasional nip from a hip flask, she insists she was ''not'' a dypsoholic, and is offended the Mr. Baloney and his defectives would insinuate such a thing.
* Emily Litella from ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''.
** More recently Al Sharpton, Drunk Uncle, and Anthony Crispino.
** The Woman Who Wish You Never Met At A Party from Weekend Update is also prone to these.
** Also, the former porn stars played by Vanessa Bayer and Cecily Strong.
** Will Ferrell's George Dubya Bush.
--> '''Jim Lehrer:''' Governor Bush, the next question is for you. Two weeks ago, at a meeting of the Economic Club in Detroit, you said the following: "More seldom than not, the movies gives us exquisite sex and wholesome violence, that underscores our values. Every two child did. I will." What did you mean by that?\\
'''Bush:''' ''[clears throat]'' Pass.
* Del Boy from ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'' does this a lot, with both [[GratuitousFrench French]] and English.
-->'''Raquel:''' ''[on hearing a story of a wartime romance]'' It's like ''Captain Corelli's Mandolin''.\\
'''Del:''' ''[whispering]'' What's Captain Pirelli's Mandarin?
* ''Series/TheOfficeUS'':
** Michael Scott commonly does all varieties of this, along with his inability to pronounce complicated words.
--->'''Michael:''' Fool me once... strike one. Fool me twice... ... ... strike three.\\
'''Michael:''' I am downloading some [=N3Ps=], for a CD mix tape...\\
'''Michael:''' ''[sipping wine]'' That was sort of an oaky afterbirth.\\
'''Michael:''' New York, New York. The city so nice, they named it twice. Manhattan is the other name.\\
'''Michael:''' Well well well, how the turntables...\\
''[...]''\\
'''Pam:''' Are you serious?\\
'''Michael:''' Yes. [[Film/{{Airplane}} And don't call me Shirley.]]\\
''[...]''\\
'''Michael:''' If I brought in some burritos or some colored greens or some pad thai. I love pad thai.\\
'''Stanley:''' It's "collard greens".\\
'''Michael:''' What?\\
'''Stanley:''' It's "collard greens".\\
'''Michael:''' No, that doesn't really make any sense. Because you don't call them "collared" people. That's offensive.
** In a slightly more subtle example, when a saying Michael's using has more than one possible phrasing, he'll often get the saying right, but use the wrong version of it, an example of which being when Michael is comforting Dwight, who had just broken up with a girl, by saying, "You don't deserve her." While those words can be used to mean, "You deserve better," they are usually used to mean the opposite. Kevin is understandably confused, though Dwight actually thanks Michael, presumably understanding Michael's intention.
* Commonly used on ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun''. In one episode, Dick is outraged that Mary once posed "naked as a jaywalker". In another, Dick decides to be a normal human being, declaring with an absolute straight face "I am John Q. Pubic!"
* The Canadian sketch comedy show ''The Vacant Lot'' featured a sketch involving this trope. Four men playing poker begin arguing over the correct lyrics to the song ''Blinded by the Light'' (different interpretations involve douches, loofah sponges, and complete nonsense). When one of them finally gets fed up and totally freaks out, another comments, "Man, somebody's hot under the colander."
* On ''Series/PushingDaisies'', Emerson Cod has a gag of mixing up necrophilia and narcolepsy.
-->'''Emerson:''' I mix up words that sound alike.\\
'''Olive:''' Oh, me too! I thought for the longest time that masturbation meant chewing your food!
** A ''WebComic/WastedTalent'' comic [[http://www.wastedtalent.ca/comic/misdiagnosis uses this same joke.]]
* [[TheDitz Kelly]] of ''Series/MarriedWithChildren''. A fansite has a [[http://www.bundyology.com/kellyisms.html whole page]] dedicated to her malapropisms.
** However, there was one notable subversion, where Al went to hold a one-man protest at his old football field; she clearly said she knew ''exactly'' what the word meant here:
-->'''Kelly:''' I hope he doesn't make a testicle of himself.
-->'''Peg:''' You mean "spectacle", honey.
-->'''Kelly:''' ''No'', I mean testicle!
* Ray Kowalski on ''Series/DueSouth'' has a habit of making these.
** As does Francesca Vecchio, who has a RunningGag of misquoting typical police jargon (for instance, "broiling" a suspect instead of grilling). This is weaponized in one episode, where she eventually drives a suspect into confessing by doing this relentlessly.
* Brennan on ''Series/{{Bones}}'' graduated from "I don't know what that means" to Malaproper about mid-Season 2.
* ''Series/DaAliGShow'': The title character, being a complete moron, does this a lot, especially when interviewing extremely respected experts on the subject he's asking about.
* A common sketch on ''Series/InLivingColor'' would be a prisoner who would talk in this manner, specifically replacing words with more offensive or sexual ones. Usually you could understand him, except for the first few where it isn't explained what he's talking about. In Season 2, they mix it up by showing him talking to OTHER people like this, including a prison inmate, his son, and Barbara Bush.
* A running gag with Ricky's broken English causing him to misspeak English idioms on ''Series/ILoveLucy''.
* ''Series/{{Friends}}''
** In one episode, Joey refers to a "moot point" as a "''moo'' point". He even justifies it: "Yeah, it's like a cow's opinion. It just doesn't matter. It's moo." (Rachel: "Have I been living with him too long, or does that make sense?")
** When giving an interview to a soap opera magazine, he also described himself as a "Mento" for kids. ("Like the candy?" "Yes, I do, actually.")
** In another episode he refers to his sister and Rachel, who both like fashion, as "fashists".
** In "The One With George Stephanopoulos", Joey confuses "omnipotent" with "impotent".
--->'''Monica:''' Hey, Joey! What would you do if you were omnipotent?\\
'''Joey:''' Probably kill myself.\\
'''Monica:''' Excuse me?\\
'''Joey:''' Hey, if Little Joey's dead, I got no reason to live.\\
'''Ross:''' Uhm, Joey... ''omni''potent.\\
'''Joey:''' You are? I'm so sorry.
* Similarly in one episode of ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'', Ray-Ray and a cop argue with Darnell that the expression is "mute point" because it's not worth talking about.
* ''Series/LasVegas'' has Polly the beautician, a woman who speaks near-perfect English, except with a Korean(?) accent. Problem is, she has no appropriateness filter. Take the time her friend Sam is offered a drink by a cute guy in Traffic school. Polly complains that no one offered to buy her a drink. Quadriplegic Mitch offers to buy her one.
-->'''Polly:''' No thanks. Wheelchair give me bruises.
* Maple [=LaMarsh=] on ''Series/RememberWENN'' was one of these.
* One ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Buffy does this sometimes: "Something about Kissing Toast..." (Kakistos).
* ''Series/{{Psych}}'' has a running gag in which Shawn will butcher a figure of speech, Gus will correct him and he'll respond with "I've heard it both ways." Lampshaded, inverted, used randomly by at least one guest star, and the subject of song and dance number by Shawn and Lassiter in the musical episode.
* Much of Peter Kay's humour, showcased in ''Series/PhoenixNights'' but begun by his earlier stand-up act, is based on malapropisms either uttered by Kay's characters or quoted from things he's heard in real life. Some of these, such as "George Formby Grill" and "VD player", have attained MemeticMutation and even entered slang usage in some circles.
* ''Series/KathAndKim'' (Australian version: no one counts the remake) live this trope. They only want to be effluent.
* ''Series/TheTwoRonnies'' have a few sketches playing on this. Notably, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ0nFQgRApY The Society For The Prevention of Pismronounciation]].
* ''Series/{{Victorious}}'' - In the "Stuck in an RV" episode, Tori berates Jade with a vicious "Thank you, [[CaptainObvious Catherine Obvious]]." Cue confusion from the other characters. After they correct her, she weakly tries to defend herself by pointing out that Catherine could be a captain.
* Jack on ''Series/WillAndGrace'' once said that his boss gave him an "old tomato" (either behave more professionally with Karen or fire her):
-->'''Will:''' An 'old tomato'?
-->'''Jack:''' Yeah, when you have to do one thing or the other? You have to eat it or throw it? 'Old tomato.'
-->'''Will:''' Oh, I see. I was confused, 'cause you know, I-- I pronounce it old to-''mah''-o.
** And while watching Ben out-cook him:
--->'''Jack:''' Hmm. Doesn't look like much of a salad to me. Where's the arugula? Hmm? Where's the radicchio? Where's the Rwanda?\\
'''Ben:''' Jack, one of those isn't a salad ingredient so much as a war-torn country in Africa.\\
'''Jack:''' Duh. I sponsor a kid in Arugula.
** Grace also apparently does not know her French terms:
--->'''Will:''' ''[on selling their flipped apartment]'' We're in escrow.\\
'''Grace:''' ''[dismissively]'' Oh, escrow. What is escrow?\\
'''Will:''' You know what it is. They've already put up the money.\\
'''Grace:''' That's what escrow is? I thought it was something else. ...What's "force majeure"?
** And while counseling Will through a date:
--->'''Grace:''' The two of you are locked in a high stakes, erotic pied-a-terre.\\
'''Will:''' Pas de deux.\\
'''Grace:''' That's what I said.\\
'''Will:''' You said "pied-a-terre." That's an apartment.\\
'''Grace:''' I know, I took Spanish for two semesters.
* On ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', Raj occasionally confuses the exact wording of American colloquialisms:
-->'''Howard:''' ''[about Penny and Leonard]'' Yes, she's pushy, and yes, he's whipped, but that's not the expression.
** They all use difficult ways of saying simple things, especially Sheldon.
* From the last episode of ''Series/{{Blackadder}} Goes Forth'':
-->'''Baldrick:''' The thing is, the way I see it, these days, there's a war on, right? And ages ago, there wasn't a war on, right? So, there must have been a moment when there not being a war on went away, right? And there being a war on came along. So, what I want to know is: How did we get from the one case of affairs to the other case of affairs?
-->'''Blackadder:''' Do you mean, how did the war start?
** A bit later:
--->'''Baldrick:''' I heard that it started when a bloke called Archie Duke shot an ostrich 'cos he was hungry.\\
'''Blackadder:''' I think you mean, it started when the Archduke of Austro-Hungary got shot.\\
'''Baldrick:''' No, there was definitely an ostrich involved, sir.\\
'''Blackadder:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Well, possibly.]] But the real reason for the whole thing was that it was just too much effort not to have a war.\\
'''George:''' By gum, this is interesting! I always loved history. The Battle of Hastings, Henry VIII and his six knives, all that.
** The ''Blackadder the Third'' episode "Ink and Incapability" has Baldrick showing Blackadder "My magnificent octopus (i.e., ''magnum opus'')".
*** Also from the same episode:
---->'''Baldrick:''' ''[After Blackadder essentially calls Samuel Johnson an idiot]'' That's not what you said when you sent him your navel.\\
'''Blackadder:''' Novel, Baldrick, not navel. I sent him my novel.\\
'''Baldrick:''' Well, novel or navel, it all sounds a bit like a bag of grapefruits to me.\\
'''Blackadder:''' The phrase, Baldrick, is "a case of sour grapes".
** In "Duel and Duality", Prince George says of Blackadder's SwappedRoles plan, "It's just like that story, 'The Prince and the Porpoise.'"
--->'''Blackadder''': "...and the Pauper", sir.\\
'''George''': Oh yes, of course. [[SustainedMisunderstanding The Prince and the Porpoise and the Pauper.]]
** Subverted in "Chains":
--->'''Elizabeth:''' They've simply vanished!\\
'''Percy:''' Like an old oak table.\\
'''Elizabeth:''' ..."Vanished", Lord Percy, not "Varnished".\\
'''Percy:''' Forgive me, My Lady, but my Uncle Bertram's old oak table completely vanished. 'Twas on the night of the great Stepney fire. And on that same terrible night, his house and all his other things completely vanished too. So did he, in fact. It was a most perplexing mystery.
* Season 16 of ''Series/TheAmazingRace'' gave us Brent, who made such mistakes as using "anonymous" instead of "unanimous", and "barrier" instead of "bearing".
** Jill (Season 17) not only was a malaproper, but she tended to mispronounce words as well.
** In the Season 20 premiere, the teams are tasked with making empanadas:
--->'''Bopper''': This is the first time I have ever made a pinata.\\
'''Mark''': It ain't a pinata, my brotha, it's a empi-za- Well, you call it whatever you want. I don't know neither.
* Mark Wary, a scandal-prone sportsman on the sketch show ''Series/TheWedge'' and the spinoff ''MarkLovesSharon'' constantly has to make a public apology for his behaviour, but his malapropisms tend to make things worse. Most common is when he begins each appearance by apologising for an "indecent".
* Bronson from ''Series/RoundTheTwist'' is a kid who often misquotes his elders. On one memorable occasion, he quotes his dad as saying that 'women are intercontinental' instead of 'incomprehensible'.
* [[PowerTrio Diego, Santi and Fiti]] in ''Series/LosSerrano'' are very fond of using those, several of them becoming catchphrases among the fandom.
* Finn from ''Series/{{Glee}}'' has this problem - both with using words that don't exist and jumbling whole phrases.
-->'''Finn:''' What's that saying? The show's gotta go all over the place or something.
-->'''Rachel:''' You mean ''the show must go on.''
** From season 1 episode "Wheels", Kurt excitedly tells his dad he was able to hit a high note in the solo he's auditioning for.
--->'''Burt''': Congratulations on hitting the kool-aid or High C or whatever...\\
'''Kurt''': High F.\\
'''Burt''': Whatever.
* Virginia in ''Series/RaisingHope'' does this pretty much every episode, and the rest of the family often ends up contributing too.
-->'''Virginia''': Burt, why are you infusiating yourself in other people's lives?\\
'''Virginia''': They never found the Limberger baby, you know.\\
'''Virginia''': Quit your procrasterbating and go talk to him.\\
'''Virginia''': Raising a baby will dramastically change your life.
** While discussing Jimmy's ''amnesia'':
--->'''Virginia''': You had ambrosia.\\
'''Burt''': Anemia.\\
'''Virginia''': Anemia!
** On Burt's parents visiting:
--->'''Burt''': Havin' a baby out of wedlock was one of the biggest things they judged me for. I don't want them judging me again for letting you repeat the cycle.\\
'''Virginia''': It's like a self-refilling prophecy.\\
'''Sabrina''': So I take it Burt's relationship with his parents is kind of estranged?\\
'''Virginia''': Oh, no, it's ''completely'' strange.\\
'''Sabrina''': Two malaprops in a row. God, I love this family.\\
'''Virginia''': Yeah, they ''are'' malaprops, but they're also his parents.
* A narrator pulls one of these in a second-rate paleontology documentary . He says dinosaurs had stones in their stomachs for grinding up food called "gastropods." The correct word for these is "gastroliths." "Gastropods" is a fancy word for "snails."
* Inspector Grim from ''Series/TheThinBlueLine''. He once described a suspect as being "as slippery as an owl". He also threatened to lock someone up and "throw away the door."
* On ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'', Shawn did this sometimes in the earlier seasons.
-->'''Shawn:''' Cory, I'm no rocket Scientologist but... I'm sensing there's something wrong.
* In a serious example, one of the first indications that Dr. Greene's brain tumor was re-growing on ''Series/{{ER}}'' was when [[SelfDemonstratingArticle he started mixing up her pronouns]].
* A mangling of the phrase "Long and short of it" was a plot point in one episode of ''Series/MidsomerMurders''.
* Gloria (due sometimes to her accent) and, less frequently, Haley on ''Series/ModernFamily''.
* Squiggy on ''Series/LaverneAndShirley'' is the KING of this trope, averaging one or two per episode. Some classics include "with God as my waitress," "radioactive pay," and "The Idiot and the Oddity."
* On ''Series/NYPDBlue'', Det. Andy Sipowicz made reference to problems with his "prostrate." John Irvin tried, as gently as he could, to teach Andy that the word was "prostate," but it never quite took.
* In ''Series/{{Degrassi}}'' the character [[TheDitz Spinner]] did this a lot in the earlier seasons, such as calling Ms. Kwan the pain of his existence rather than the bane, and saying the peace club meeting was boring people into submersion rather than submission.
* Officer Crabtree from ''Series/AlloAllo'' had this as his standard shtick, as a British undercover agent with a terrible French accent, which was then filtered through the TranslationConvention.
-->'''Officer Crabtree:''' Good moaning.
* In ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', Niles and Daphne are being hounded by the press and the police in connection with Maris' arrest for murder. Frasier offers to make a statement to the press on their behalf, saying that the two of them will soon be exonerated. However, what he ends up saying is that they will soon be ''executed''.
* In the ''Series/TeenWolf'' episode "Abomination", Scott and Allison [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike both confuse]] the word "bestiary", which means an [[TomeOfEldritchLore ancient book about supernatural creatures]], with the word [[BestialityIsDepraved "bestiality"]], which means [[FreudianSlip something else]].
* In ''Series/TheGoodGuys'', Det. Dan Stark is one. In the pilot, he keeps calling a humidifier a "Humidifinder".
* In the ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "[[Recap/CommunityS3E14PillowsAndBlankets Pillows and Blankets]]", Troy thinks an ultimatum is called an "all tomato".
-->'''Troy:''' It's not a request. I'm giving you an all tomato, meaning that you give me the whole tomato, or else.
** Troy in general has this going for him (confusing "scapegoat" with "escape goat", etc)
** Britta is also prone to this, saying "rowboat cop" instead of ''Franchise/RoboCop'', "edible complex" instead of "Oedipal complex", etc. It even becomes a plot point in an episode where she says she is going to have a "Sophie B. Hawkins" dance (instead of "Sadie Hawkins") and she spends the rest of the episode doubling down on her mistake because she's tired of Jeff making fun of her.
* The premise of the CBS game show ''Series/{{Whew}}'' was for the contestants to correct malapropisms, which in the show's vernacular were "bloopers".
* ''Series/MurdochMysteries'': Constable Crabtree mispronounces something or messes up a quote from time to time, especially in the early seasons. Detective Murdoch sometimes corrects him, but once George Crabtree dismisses him and says that they will have agree to disagree as to what the correct expression is, Murdoch stops doing it. The best instance was probably when George repeated after Murdoch that haemo-goblin is the substance causing a chemical reaction.
* Darrell Sheets of ''Series/StorageWars'' is one of these.
-->'''Darrell:''' Brandon and I are kapoop!\\
''[{{Beat}}]''\\
'''Darrell:''' Kapoot!
* Starsky in ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'' does this occasionally, for example, referring to a rock as "ignatius" (he meant "igneous") and pronouncing "hippopotamus" as "hoppopitimus." Hutch usually makes fun of him for it.
* ''Series/ABitOfFryAndLaurie'' uses this to [[{{Eagleland}} make fun of Americans]] in a trial scene, in which both the judge and the prosecuting attorney use phrases like "grievous internal bruisality" and "case dismissulated."
* ''Series/UnbreakableKimmySchmidt'' has the title character, who was trapped underground at the age of 14 and still has an 8th-grade education 15 years later. She's prone to saying things like, "[[EurekaMoment Urethra]]!"
* ''Series/{{Taxi}}'' - when Latka goes through a personality change from his regular sweet-natured self to a callous suave cad, Tony calls it a case of [[WesternAnimation/HeckleAndJeckle "Doctor Jekyll and Mister Heckle"]].
* ''Series/DadsArmy'': Jones generally does this several times an episode.
* ''Series/ADifferentWorld''. Whitley frequently mispronounced the name of Dwayne's girlfriend--"Kino-sabe", "Kikulu", etc. Given how ridiculously simple the girl's name was--Kinu--she was almost certainly deliberately doing it to irritate her. (the backstory on this being that Whitley wanted Dwayne for herself and resented Kinu's presence)
* ''Series/ColdCase'': In one episode, a politician the team is trying to interview is attempting to apologize to a Hispanic organization for having to cut a meeting short. However, instead of the correct phrase "lo siento mucho" (I'm very sorry), he says it as "''me'' siento mucho". As Valens explains to Rush, "He just told them he sits down a lot."
* ''Series/CougarTown'': Jules often does this with words and phrases she thinks should have different meanings, and then Ellie "approves" the change, much to Grayson's chagrin.
* An episode of ''Series/TheITCrowd'' has Jen and Roy each giving the other a hard time over one. First Jen mistakes "putting women on a pedestal" as "putting women on a pedal stool". Later Roy mistakes "Damp Squib" to be "Damp Squid", justifying it by saying that since squids are already damp that's why it makes sense.
* The lead character on ''Series/AccordingToJim'' is sometimes prone to this.
-->'''Jim:''' ''[About his daughter's bad behaviour]'' I'm gonna go nip it in the butt!
-->'''Dana:''' It's ''bud.'' It's a gardening reference.
-->'''Jim:''' Ah, famous sayings are always my [[AchillesHeel Achilles tendon.]]
* Mrs. Howell from ''Series/GilligansIsland''. A RunningGag is her tendency to mix up her expressions, like "The way to a man's stomach is through the kitchen" or "Birds of a feather gather no moss".
* ''Series/{{Kaamelott}}'':
** Perceval and Karadoc's dialogues are hilarious when they try to use big words.
--->'''Karadoc:''' ''[to Arthur, through the door of his bedroom]'' We are wily-nilly used by you to achieve on an end!\\
'''Arthur:''' What???\\
'''Karadoc:''' We are willy-nilly used by you to achieve on an end!\\
''[beat]''\\
'''Arthur:''' ''[opening the door, thoughtful]'' You are ''unwillingly'' used by me to achieve ''my'' ends?\\
'''Karadoc:''' Oh yeah, that's better...\\
'''Perceval:''' The turn of phrase is more gradual...\\
'''Arthur:''' ... Clearer?\\
'''Perceval:''' Clearer, yeah.\\
'''Arthur:''' ''[half-proud, half-amused]'' Did you notice that I understand you better and better?\\
'''Perceval:''' Yes, that's what I was just thinking about right now.\\
'''Karadoc:''' Quicker and quicker, at least.\\
'''Perceval:''' It's more spindly!\\
'''Arthur:''' ... More fluent?\\
'''Perceval:''' Right.
** The Burgundian king has no idea of what he's saying, including such gems as "the flower in the bouquet withers... and is ''never'' reborn!", "I appreciate fruits in syrup", "Not change plate for the cheese!" and "strong in apples". He also starts sniggering at "biography".
* A RunningGag on ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' is Mick's inability to come up with the right big word at first (ie. "mechanism", which Sara then connects to "anachronism").
* ''Series/TheWire'' sometimes does this, due to the fact that neither cops nor robbers tend to be very bookish people.
** Some detectives laugh about a report in which one of them wrote that that perpetrator was "lying prostate" on the floor (instead of "prostrate").
** When the hoppers are told that the secret Neutral Zone is "like Amsterdam" for its lack of drug restrictions, they don't understand the reference and call it "Hamsterdam," which sticks.
* ''Series/ComeBackMrsNoah'' wouldn't be a David Croft sitcom without a character who confuses similar-sounding long words. In the first episode, Mrs. Noah, not realising the station really is about to launch by mistake, thanks the crew for "stimulating" an emergency for her benefit.
* In the ''Series/BroadCity'' episode "Hurricane Wanda," Abbi tries to tell her crush Jeremy that a shelf fell and tells him that a felf shell instead.

[[folder:Music]]
* Music/RingoStarr was famous for this. The song, album and film ''Music/AHardDaysNight'' were named after a phrase Ringo used after a concert. As he said: "It's been a hard day" he suddenly noticed it was dark outside and added "...'s night". Another one of his was "Tomorrow Never Knows", used on ''Music/{{Revolver|Beatles Album}}''.
** Music/PaulMcCartney also stated in a 1984 interview with Magazine/{{Playboy}} that "Eight Days a Week" off ''Music/BeatlesForSale'' was inspired by another of Ringo's malapropisms. He would later recant this claim, and now states that the phrase came from a chauffeur whom he probably just misremembered as Ringo.
* The first line of Music/ProcolHarum's "Whiter Shade of Pale", ''Skip the light fandango'' is a malapropism of ''Trip the light fantastic''.
* Music/FrankZappa often uses a rather unusual version of English in his songs, mainly to make the lyrics fit the music better. One particularly egregious example is the chorus to his song "Zomby Woof" from ''Music/OverNiteSensation'':
-->''Tellin' ya all the zomby troof!''
-->''Here I'm is, the Zomby Woof!''
* Music/TenaciousD has one rather big example in "Kickapoo". "Then I sliced his ***ing cockles, with a long and shiny blade!"[[note]]it means a shellfish...[[/note]]
* Pharrell Williams, during his verse on Music/SnoopDogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot", mispronounces "eligible" as "elgible". Wonder if he was trying to fit the rhyme scheme?
* Norwegian singer/songwriter Bertine Zettlitz's "Death in her room" features the line "my baby – warlocks in her hair", apparently thinking warlock means lock of hair.
* Done deliberately in Maria Solheim's "Richard" with the lines:
-->Years of painted her hair\\
And colored her face

[[folder:Print Media]]
* The ''Annals of Improbable Research'' article "The Missed Education of Harold Dowd" is mostly written in these.
-->"I'm truly greatful for the opportunity to conceal my views on such an importunate topic, especially considering that your steamed author is a steamed high school dropout."
* A popular feature in ''Magazine/{{Punch}}'' throughout its run, sometimes attributed to the original Mrs Malaprop herself as a columnist.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* Wrestling/MikeAwesome would call Wrestling/{{WCW}} interviewer Pamela [=Paulshock=] "Paula [=Pamshock=]."
[[/folder]]

!!Examples:

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]