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April 29

Name for speech error?

I am trying to remember a type of speech error (similar I think to bowdlerism, which is something else) that was named for a publisher known for trying to improve existing works according to his own rules and thereby introducing odd or humorous language. Can someone help? Jmar67 (talk) 13:36, 29 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

~~Maybe I am indeed thinking of "bowdlerism" and misunderstood what it meant.~~ Jmar67 (talk) 14:11, 29 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Spoonerism? Bus stop (talk) 14:46, 29 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

No, I had already ruled that out. Thanks. Jmar67 (talk) 15:04, 29 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I think the Chicago Tribune at one time had tried, to some extent, to implement the ideas of the Simplified Spelling Board. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:13, 29 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

That's interesting, although not what I was thinking of. German underwent a similar reform several years ago. Much of it was controversial. Jmar67 (talk) 15:42, 29 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thomas Bowdler was famous for going through the works of Shakespeare and taking out all the naughty bits. Not sure that the results are particularly humorous though. Alansplodge (talk) 16:20, 29 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

False alarm. I am thinking of the German term "Verballhornung", the intentional or unintentional (re)formulation of known or unknown words and idioms. It is derived from Johan Balhorn, a 16th-century printer who supposedly revised a flawed law text he had printed and ended up with one that had more errors than before. The English equivalent is "distortion", "corruption", "disimprovement". Jmar67 (talk) 18:33, 29 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
- Clearly not what you were thinking of, but malapropism comes to mind also. --76.69.46.228 (talk) 20:51, 29 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  - "Spoonerism" and "malapropism" are related to this discussion, but the German term often refers to something that by misfortune becomes part of the language. Jmar67 (talk) 01:55, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Also Mumpsimus (though that's an old error, not a new one)... AnonMoos (talk) 03:21, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

New term to me, thanks. I think "for all intensive purposes" is a good example of what the German term is referring to. Jmar67 (talk) 04:08, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Would eggcorn be relevant as well? Iapetus (talk) 08:57, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I think so. I admit that I had never heard the word "eggcorn" until this discussion and took it to be BrE. Jmar67 (talk) 11:37, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Arabic in Comoros

What variety of Arabic is spoken in the Comoros? — Mr. Guye (talk) (contribs) 19:57, 29 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

According to the French language article on Languages of the Comoros [1], Arabic is not really spoken there outside of a religious context. Therefore, there is no local native variety. --Xuxl (talk) 12:59, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]