Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2019 April 29

= April 29 =

Name for speech error?
I am trying to remember a type of speech error (similar I think to bowdlerism, which is something else) that was named for a publisher known for trying to improve existing works according to his own rules and thereby introducing odd or humorous language. Can someone help? Jmar67 (talk) 13:36, 29 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Maybe I am indeed thinking of "bowdlerism" and misunderstood what it meant. Jmar67 (talk) 14:11, 29 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Spoonerism? Bus stop (talk) 14:46, 29 April 2019 (UTC)
 * No, I had already ruled that out. Thanks. Jmar67 (talk) 15:04, 29 April 2019 (UTC)
 * I think the Chicago Tribune at one time had tried, to some extent, to implement the ideas of the Simplified Spelling Board. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:13, 29 April 2019 (UTC)
 * That's interesting, although not what I was thinking of. German underwent a similar reform several years ago. Much of it was controversial. Jmar67 (talk) 15:42, 29 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Thomas Bowdler was famous for going through the works of Shakespeare and taking out all the naughty bits. Not sure that the results are particularly humorous though. Alansplodge (talk) 16:20, 29 April 2019 (UTC)


 * False alarm. I am thinking of the German term "Verballhornung", the intentional or unintentional (re)formulation of known or unknown words and idioms. It is derived from Johan Balhorn, a 16th-century printer who supposedly revised a flawed law text he had printed and ended up with one that had more errors than before. The English equivalent is "distortion", "corruption", "disimprovement". Jmar67 (talk) 18:33, 29 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Clearly not what you were thinking of, but malapropism comes to mind also. --76.69.46.228 (talk) 20:51, 29 April 2019 (UTC)
 * "Spoonerism" and "malapropism" are related to this discussion, but the German term often refers to something that by misfortune becomes part of the language. Jmar67 (talk) 01:55, 30 April 2019 (UTC)


 * Also Mumpsimus (though that's an old error, not a new one)... AnonMoos (talk) 03:21, 30 April 2019 (UTC)
 * New term to me, thanks. I think "for all intensive purposes" is a good example of what the German term is referring to. Jmar67 (talk) 04:08, 30 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Would eggcorn be relevant as well? Iapetus (talk) 08:57, 30 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes, I think so. I admit that I had never heard the word "eggcorn" until this discussion and took it to be BrE. Jmar67 (talk) 11:37, 30 April 2019 (UTC)

Arabic in Comoros
What variety of Arabic is spoken in the Comoros?&thinsp;&mdash; Mr. Guye (talk) (contribs)&thinsp; 19:57, 29 April 2019 (UTC)
 * According to the French language article on Languages of the Comoros, Arabic is not really spoken there outside of a religious context. Therefore, there is no local native variety. --Xuxl (talk) 12:59, 30 April 2019 (UTC)