"Mispronunciation" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... from some peculiarity of habit, as shown in "Saleratus Bill," so called from an undue proportion of that chemical in his daily bread; or for some unlucky slip, as exhibited in "The Iron Pirate," a mild, inoffensive man, who earned that baleful title by his unfortunate mispronunciation of the term "iron pyrites." Perhaps this may have been the beginning of a rude heraldry; but I am constrained to think that it was because a man's real name in that day rested solely upon his own unsupported ...
— Selected Stories • Bret Harte
... idea," introduced purposely: either he, or some predecessor, reasoned thus—there is no meaning in asparagus; sparrow-grass must be the right word because it makes sense. The name of a well-known place in London illustrates both these changes: Convent Garden becomes Covent Garden by mispronunciation; it becomes Common Garden ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 223, February 4, 1854 • Various |
