What is this common misunderstanding called?

[tapu]

@Tammi_Terrell

“Linguistic malentendu” and “quasi malection,” which I think are the best names for this device, were coined by English professor D.G. Kehl in the 1980s. In describing this play on words, Kehl noted that,

I suppose that “linguistic malentendu” probably best describes the case in which the speaker uses a $10-word, not suspecting that his listeners are not only unfamiliar with its meaning, but also unaware that they may construe something else (especially something worse).

Examples such as Smathers’s fabled use of “shameless extrovert” and “thespian” hinge on the speaker’s relying on (or betting on) his listeners’ ignorance of a word’s meaning to malign (but, at the same time, not malign) his target. This planned deception probably more closely fits a a literal meaning of “quasi malediction.”

– Tammi Terrell

Any relation to Tracy Terrell? (Linguist who was my grad advisor)

[Eonwe]

From The Muppet Movie:

Man at bar, to girlfriend: “Go wash, you’ll get warts”

Kermit: That’s a myth!

Man: Yeah, and she’s my myth!

Kermit: No; myth, myth!

Other woman: Yeth?

[Idle_Thoughts]

I just read this one a few days ago, lucky for you.

I believe this trope (chain of corrections) comes closest.

Edited: And I see the OP hasn’t even been here for a few years, ah well. There it is for anyone else who was wondering.

[Yllaria]

@mobo85

In a similar vein, is there a name for the sort of joke where a character uses a complicated word, and a second character, not knowing what it means, ends up responding with something that means the exact same thing? (I think the Skipper and Gilligan used these gags a lot). Example:

Narrator: Will Bullwinkle be able to extricate himself?
Bullwinkle: I will- just as soon as I get myself loose!

I’ve heard these called Gilliganisms.

Professor: The boulder instantly disintegrated.
Gilligan: And not only that, it crumbled into a million tiny pieces!

[JKellyMap]

@terentii

Uhm, “obtuse” is hardly a compliment. :dubious:

True, but in the film it’s clear the warden mistook it to be a very rude word.

[F.U.Shakespeare]

@phouka

This is kind of the reverse, as the listener is still the one to misunderstand, but is more erudite than the speaker.

So Guy A has been told all his life that he needs to go to Small City on the coast to fish during the scrod season. Best scrod in the world, but it’s practically a secret. So, after saving for years, he flies out to Small City for a fishing vacation. After deplaning and picking up his luggage, he hails the first taxi he sees, climbs in and tells the cabby, “I want you to take me to the best place to get scrod!”

The cabby turns around, looks at him, and says, “mister, I been driving a cab for thirty years, and I ain’t never had anyone ask me to find them some tail using the pluperfect past tense.”

An English gentleman visiting New York City realizes he’s short on dress shirts. He instructs a cabbie, “Please take me to the nearest haberdasher”.

The cabbie answers, “Yes sir, right away”.

A few minutes pass, and the Englishman asks the cabbie, “Are we getting near a haberdashers?”

“Yes sir, real soon”.

A few more minutes, and the Englishman suspects he’s being duped. “Look here man, do you or do you not know where there is a haberdasher?”

The cabbie pulls over and looks the Englishman straight in the eye.

“Look mister”, says the cabbie, “I’m cool. You can be straight with me. Whaddaya after, booze, or women?”