[Vocabulary] Idiomatic mistakes

Status
Not open for further replies.

karynmadam

New member
Joined
Jun 9, 2010
Member Type
Academic
What do you call the act of using the wrong words in an idiomatic expression, such as "the straight and skinny" instead of "the straight and narrow":?: It is neither malapropism nor neologism... but there should be a term...:roll:
 

chester_100

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2008
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Persian
Home Country
Iran
Current Location
Iran
What do you call the act of using the wrong words in an idiomatic expression, such as "the straight and skinny" instead of "the straight and narrow":?: It is neither malapropism nor neologism... but there should be a term...:roll:

In your example, the collocational content of the expression has been violated. In EA, that phenomenon falls under the category of Lexico-Semantic Errors.

We can call it Pragmatic Deviation.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top