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Both are mistakes involving sound. Mrs. Malaprop confuses “alligators” and “allegories.” And “odious” and “odorous.” The person who hears “laid him on the green” as “Lady Mondegreen” similarly is homophonically discombobulated, and in attempting to overcome phonetic distress, assigns the wrong words to the right sounds. Perhaps I should have written phonetic and phonemic distress.
In both cases there is insufficient understanding of the language. Confusion Gracelessly Abounding. For all I know, the Malapropism of Mrs. Malaprop begins, possibly, in a pre-existing Aural Malapropism: she heard someone say the phrase “comparisons are odious” and thought she heard “comparisons are odorous” and then repeated the latter later. And then there was that intrepid Englishwoman, a lady traveler famous for having sailed all the way down the Nile beyond Ptolemais and Apollinopolis Magna to the First Cataract at Assuan, and whose public lecture she had eagerly attended, and came away convinced she had heard mentioned riparian “allegories” rather than “alligators” spotted basking near Giza.
These are Things to Think About. These Are Questions for Study and Discussion.
But on one thing no study and no discussion is, by now, necessary. Both the quite (at times) contrary Mary and I share a virtue and also a fault. We both yield to no one in our desire to yield to no one.


"It takes one to no one."* -from the "smash hit"**, "No Sex Please: We're Married"/ *Dangnabit -I was beaten to this by an episode of "Webitched".*** **I won't be accused of getting someone off their feed by having Spooner-fed them something about the "oppressive occupation" which has lead to the effluence of untreated sewage from the home of a prominent Palestinian family. ***Add an "e", just for thee, in Scotland**** ****There be no Converse -home of the worst-shod tennis players in the world***** *****See MP's "Eaton in straight sets"

You're quite right. In fact you're far better at yielding to no one than I am.