Ian, I always thought it originated from French term for badly applied but I've had a look on Wikipedia and here's what they say :
" The word malapropos is an adjective or adverb meaning "inappropriate" or "inappropriately", derived from the French phrase mal à propos (literally "ill-suited"). The earliest English usage of the word cited in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1630. The terms malapropism and the earlier variant malaprop come from Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 1775 play The Rivals, and in particular the character Mrs. Malaprop. Sheridan presumably named his character Mrs. Malaprop, who frequently misspoke (to great comic effect) in joking reference to the word malapropos."
When I was growing up, my next door neighbour in Dublin was an incredible source of malapropisms.
Her sister went into labour was rushed by ambulance to the 'eternity ward' at the local hospital. She was summoned to school for a meeting with the head teacher to discuss the 'circumcises' of her son's problems.
... and there's a ton more if only I could remember.
Going back to your military ones, there's the classic -
'Send up reinforcements, we're going to advance' which ended up being 'Send up three and four pence, we're going to a dance' !
|
|