This week's theme
Words about words

This week's words
shibboleth
hypocorism
polysemous
lapsus linguae
paregmenon

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(LAP-suhs LING-gwee, LAHP-soos LING-gwy)

MEANING:

noun: A slip of the tongue.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin lapsus linguae (slip of the tongue). Earliest documented use: 1668.

NOTES:

Malapropisms and spoonerisms are two examples of lapsus linguae. And here is an example of a lapsus linguae which cost a game show contestant a potential one-million-dollar prize.
A lapsus calami is a slip of the pen.

USAGE:

"True, Bush mispronounced the name of Spain's Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, but not even that lapsus linguae could sour the mood in the first meeting between the two conservatives."
Bush's Gateway to Europe; Los Angeles Times; Jun 22, 2001.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: