play malaprops

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

from my friend Tim McDaniel in e-mail 6/4/07, about the intelligence
of penguins:

   Sorry to cast nasturtiums on your totemic bird.

i told him i appreciated the play malaprop, and he replied that it
wasn't original with him, but (he thought) pretty old, possibly from
the Dowager Duchess of Denver in the Lord Peter Wimsey novels.

i got 76 google webhits (with "similar pages" etc. removed) for "cast
nasturtiums", 86 for "casting nasturtiums", and 4 for "casts
nasturtiums", so it has a modest web presence.

Urban Dictionary has "nasturtiums" as "old yorkshire speak, part of a
phrase", with an example of "casting nasturtiums about" something.
the "Slang and colloquialisms of the UK" site
   (http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang)
says
   *cast nasturtiums*   _Verb_.  To sully a person's reputation.  A
pun on 'cast aspersions'.

it seems to me that "pun" is not quite the right label here, though
phonological similarity is involved.  the relationship is much like
that in classical malaprops, except that the choice of the wrong item
is deliberate.  so i called it a "play malaprop"; "mock malaprop"
might be even better.

a little while back, we talked about some similar examples here --
little mock malaprops from friends and family.  unfortunately, i've
forgotten the examples and can't find them now.  anybody recall them?

arnold

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