Say what you will, [tag]David Kelley[/tag] is a genius. He is the brains behind some of the most popular TV series of the last decade or so…and a master writer.
So, on his [tag]Boston Legal[/tag] last night, [tag]Denny Crain[/tag] ([tag]William Shatner[/tag]) and Allen ([tag]James Spader[/tag]) are having their end-of-the-day cigar, when Denny says, [tag]“Hope springs a kernel.”[/tag] Allen says “no, I think it’s[tag] ‘hope springs eternal.’[/tag]”
“No,” says Denny, “hope springs a kernel. Old farmer saying.”
I am still laughing today.
These are called [tag]malaprops[/tag] and we all have friends who utter them, most unwittingly. They are so funny. I have a friend who used to say that he was afraid of ‘being blackwalled.’ When I said I thought the term was ‘blackballed’—he, in a pre-Denny Crain moment , said ‘well, blackballed makes NO sense.’”
Or the woman who said it is a “doggie dog world.” I guess she hated the idea of it being a “dog-eat-dog world.”
The two masters of malaprops have to be [tag]Yogi (deja vu, all over again)Berra[/tag] and [tag]Archie Bunker[/tag].
Archie’s malaprops were laugh out loud moments…here are a few of my favorites:
floorplay (foreplay)
groinocologist (gynecologist)
kromo-stones (chromosomes)
pillow of salt (pillar Of salt)
suppository remarks (derogatory remarks)
urology (eulogy)
wild hornets (wild horses)
mental pause (menopause)
beaurocraps (beaurocrats)
Think back, what are your favorite malaprops?
Ispo fatso.
[tags] All in the Family, Archie Bunker, Yogi Berra witticisms, Denny Crain quotes[/tags]
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thaks for explanation about ‘hope..’ dialogue. as i’m not a native speaker, i couldn’t understand the meaning. now i can understand. now i’m laughing.:)
A certain WWII veteran who will remain unnamed listened to a song with the line, “I’m writing this letter from a trench, Mom!” He always wondered what a “trenchmom” was. He also listened as a kid to (on the radio) the opening line “The first nighters are all in their seats!” He aspired to being a “First Snyder” when he grew up.
Another friend thought that “Up and at ‘em!” was “Up and atom!” and couldn’t see the relevance. He also thought the phrase was “Let the meat cake” rather than “Let them eat cake.”
A famous one is Jimmy Hendrix line “Excuse me while I kiss the sky” being interpreted as “Excuse me while I kiss this guy” which can give rise to all kinds of rumors. By the way, that line was inspired by Jimmy sitting in an open-roof outhouse in Elk Grove, Kansas! I just read it last week. Now, from our Manchester days, we are both thinking “why an open-roof outhouse in Kansas? You could get hurt in that weather!”
The list I sent you is really a close cousin of the malaprop, the mondegreen. The term mondegreen – meaning misheard lyric – comes from Sylvia Wright’s mishearing of the “Oh, they have slain the Earl of Moray and laid him on the green” as “Oh, they have slain the Earl of Moray and Lady Mondegreen”. Here are a few examples:
‘Scuse me while I kiss this guy
Beelzebub has a devil for a sideboard
Killed in a bar when he was only three
Olive the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names
The ants are my friends, they’re blowing in the wind
The girl with colitis goes by
There’s a bathroom on the right
Round John Virgin, Mother and Child
Here are a couple of favorites from friends:
Nip it in the butt (that’s gotta hurt)
mea gulpa (Roman version of 7Eleven drink?)
Conrad,….the m-o-n-d-g-r-e-e-n. Wowser.
Seriously, great crossword puzzle word you used there. My favorite mondgreen, (I am trying to use it in a sentence here), was from the Beatles and the phrase “Paperback Writer” from the song of the same name—-mis-heard as”take the back right turn.”
later on we’ll perspire as we sit by the fire (from Walking in a Winter Wonderland)
[...] What Would Dad Say Hope Springs a Kernel Posted by root 23 hours ago (http://blogs.jobdig.com) Follow up comment rss or leave a trackback by the way that line was inspired by jimmy sitting in an open roof outhouse in elk grove kansas i just read it last week now from our manchester days we are both thinking why an open roof successful blogger 2007 Discuss | Bury | News | what would dad say hope springs a kernel [...]