Oops, how is that again?

*Roger Rosenblatt

This essay describes the mistakes people make while speaking and the reasons why they make these mistakes. The mistakes are divided into categories: Slips of the tongue, faux pas, mistranslations and spoonerisms.

Slips of the tongue are common mistakes where the speaker says one thing when they mean to say another. It is a slip of the tongue when someone says, “Who are you?” instead of saying, “How are you?”

Usually a faux pas occurs when a person says something that he/she thinks harmless but it actually has a critical meaning that will upset some people. For example, when a nun said to a bishop, “How many lords my lumps?” instead of saying “How many lumps, my lord?” it was a faux pas.

Mistranslations are mistakes made when words in one language are translated badly into another language. For example, “Come alive with Pepsi” was translated as “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from grave” into another language.

Spoonerisms are utterly different kind of verbal errors. Spoonerisms are the transposition of initial sounds of words in a sentence. For example, “Kinquering Kougs tittles take” instead of saying “Conquering Kings their titles lake”. The author gives many examples of each type of mistakes being made by famous people.

The essay looks at why we make mistakes. Several theories described. One theory is that mistakes show our inner thoughts. These are the thoughts we have inside us but we want to keep them secret.

The essay explains why we find mistakes humorous. For example, sometimes we find mistakes funny because we are being mean, but at other times, we laugh because we feel sympathy. This is because we all make mistakes.

Comments

Physics: Simple Harmonic Motion - SHM

Simple Harmonic Motion(SHM) What is Periodic motion? The motion which repeats itself after equal intervals of time is called periodic motion . For example: the motion of planets and satellites, vibration of springs, motion of pendulum, motion of different hands in watch etc. What is Simple Harmonic Motion? The periodic motion in which particle moves to and fro (back and forth) such that the acceleration of the particle is directly proportional to the displacement from mean position and directed towards the mean position is called simple harmonic motion. i.e. for SHM, a ∝ y ( where y is the displacement from mean position) or, a = −ky ..........................(i) (Where, k is proportionality constant. Negative sign shows that the acceleration opposes the displacement from mean position.) SHM in terms of uniform circular motion(Characteristics of SHM): Equation of SHM: Consider a particle moving in a circular orbit having centre at O and radius r with uniform angular velocity ω. Let P...

Progressive Wave and its Equation - Physics Grade XII

Progressive Wave A progressive wave is defined as one in which the wave profile moves forward with the wave's speed. Both transverse and longitudinal waves are progressive waves. In a progressive wave, the amplitude and frequency of particle vibrations are the same, but the phase of the vibration varies from point to point along the wave. Progressive Wave Equation Suppose that the wave moves from left to right with a displacement velocity of v in which each article vibrates with a simple harmonic motion. However, when compared to the motion of the particle o at the origin O (at x = 0), subsequent particles to the right have phase lag. The vibrating particle's displacement y at origin O is given by, y = a sin ω t ........ (1) where 'a' is amplitude, 't' is time: ω = 2πf, is the angular velocity, where f is the frequency of vibration. Consider a particle P at distance x from the origin as in fig. Φ be the phase lag of the particle P and λ be the wavelength....

Exploring Doppler's Effect: How Sound Waves Change Frequency

Exploring Doppler's Effect: How Sound Waves Change Frequency Table of Contents What is Doppler’s Effect? A. Source in motion and observer at rest: a. Source moving towards the observer: b. Source moving away from the observer: B. Observer in motion and source at rest: a. Observer moving towards the source: b. Observer moving away from the source: C. Source and observer both are in motion: a. Source and observer approaching each other: b. Source and observer receding each other: c. Source leading the observer: d. Observer leading the source: Doppler’s Effect summarization Doppler’s red shift: Limitations of Doppler’s effect: What is Doppler’s Effect? When there is a relative motion between the source of a sound and observer, the frequency or pitch of the sound received by the observer is different than the actual frequency or pitch. This phenomenon is called Doppler’s effect. The apparent change in pitch or the frequency of sound due to relative motion between source of sound and ob...

Open Books

Search This Blog