CHINGLISH MALAPROPISMS
Shanghai authorities are trying to clean up English-language signs and menus to rid them of their malapropisms, like these examples. But, what is a malapropism? A malapropism is a word that is used wrongly but sounds like the word that you should have used, especially one that creates a funny change of meaning, for example, "Texas has a lot of electrical votes", instead of electoral. In Spanish, Sofía Mazagatos, a celebrity from glossy magazines, made famous the expression estar en el candelabro, instead of candelero).
The word "malapropism" comes from the French "mal à propos" meaning "inappropriate", and was personified by Richard Brinsley Sheridan in his comedy The Rivals (1775) as "Mrs Malaprop", a character who habitually misused her words.
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