Not-quite-homophonic errors

Mon Dec 9 13:27:22 UTC 2002

In a message dated 12/9/02 7:18:50 AM Eastern Standard Time,
mailinglists at LOGOPHILIA.COM writes:

> Is there an official name for the type of verbal error where a person
>  substitutes a nearly homophonic word for the correct word, such as a person
>  writing "eminent" when they mean "imminent"?

If the result is amusing, it is called a "malaprop" or "malapropism".

      - Jim Landau