Don't Misunderestimate Yourself

It was the comedian Norm Crosby who became known as the "master of the malaprop" for saying things like, “Wilt Chamberlain is an insulation to young people all over the world. Wherever he appears, after every game the kids give him a standing ovulation.” and his classic, "Are you staying over, or are you communicating?"

But those were intentional mistakes. He wrote them to get laughs, and laugh we did! 

It's always funny when someone unintentionally slips on his or her tongue and says, "I just might fade into Bolivian" (Mike Tyson) or "Pls refudiate" (Sarah Palin). Boxer Tyson may or may not have know that he meant to say "oblivion," and I'm not about to ask him to point out Bolivia on a world map, anyway. Perpetually confused politician Palin went on to say "English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too." By putting herself in the linguistic class of the Bard of Avon, Sarah reminds us that she might be better off selling Avon door-to-door than selling neologisms.

But! I just stumbled over a fun fact! There's a word  - "lethologica" -that describes the frustration of not remembering the word or name you want to use. 

I say this all the time: It's easy being a guy, because a) we get out of the shower, run a towel over our heads, throw on a shirt and pants, and we're ready for the day   and b) if we can't think of another guy's name - even a guy we've known since God was in junior high school - we can just punch him in the shoulder and say, "Whaddya say, buddy boy?" Also, "Ace," "Pal," and "Big Man!" are acceptable.

If the object we can't properly name is an inanimate object, we just say, "Hand me that thing, you know what I mean, the thing!" or "that whatchamacallit" or "the whatzit."

One warning, though: if you're even having surgery and your sedative wears off to the point where you hear the doctor say, "Gimme Dat Ding!" you should run and come back later for your pants.