Malaproper / Theatre

• As noted on the main page, the Trope Namer is The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
• Older Than Steam: William Shakespeare was fond of having characters, especially lower-class characters who speak in prose, use a number of malapropisms. Tragically, it can be easy to miss the humor if you're not familiar with Elizabethan English, since its archaic but correct terms can disguise the impostors in their midst.
  • Amateur thespians and simple tradesmen Quince, Flute, and Bottom the Weaver from A Midsummer Night's Dream speak almost entirely in these.
  • Juliet's nurse from Romeo and Juliet also speaks almost entirely in these, for which she is hilariously ridiculed.
    Nurse: [to Romeo] If you be he, sir, I desire some confidence with you.
    Benvolio: She will indite him to some supper.
  • Constable Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, whose watch have comprehended two auspicious persons who will no doubt be condemned into everlasting redemption for their crimes.
  • Constable Elbow in Measure for Measure. The babbling constable was a fairly common device in plays of the time, commenting on the fact that it was difficult to get competent people to fill law enforcement positions, due to the low pay.
  • When, in Twelfth Night, Olivia comments on Toby Belch's "lethargy," his drunken response is:
    Sir Toby: Lechery? I defy lechery!
  • Sir Andrew Aguecheek at one point refers to Sebastian as "the very devil incardinate".
  • Launcelot and his dad, Old Gobbo, in The Merchant of Venice.
  • Launce in Two Gentlemen of Verona has received his proportion, like the prodigious son.
  • The Gravedigger in Hamlet is a capable philosopher, but he does tend to make unfortunate substitutions such as argal for ergo.
  • Mistress Quickly in the Henriad is also prone to this.
• In Sheer Madness, a policeman makes mistakes like "individualistically" for "individually" and "psychotic" for "psychic". (Note: The show does not follow the exact same script every time, being interactive with the audience and partly improvised.)
• On the Town:
  Ivy: Oh, I know. I'm gonna be arrested for disnuding in public.
• In Trial by Jury, the Plaintiff's Counsel objects: "To marry two at once is Burglaree!"
• In Avenue Q, Rod panics when he realizes just how transparent his closet is to all of his friends, and starts singing very quickly and loudly about his "girlfriend who lives in Canada," named Alberta, who lives in Vancouver. (He takes maybe one breath before he finishes the song.) At one point, singing too quickly, he messes up:
  "I love her - I miss her - I can't wait to kiss her - so soon I'll be off to Alberta - I mean Vancouver - (aside) shit, her NAME is Alberta, she LIVES in Vancou- she's my girlfriend! My wonderful girlfriend! Yes I have a girlfriend! Who lives! In! CANADA!"
• In Paint Your Wagon, Jennifer tries to tell her father that she's not a child anymore, but can't hide her lack of education: "I'm a growed-up person. I'm feelin' more adulterous all the time!" He gives her a stunned look, then quietly tells her it's not the right word. This is given an echo in a later scene, where Jennifer returns all schooled up, and her father scolds her, "What do you think, just because you're almost eighteen you've reached the age o' maternity?" To which Jennifer replies as he did to her earlier malaproper.
• In Wicked, Madame Morrible and other Ozians sometimes don't get words right. Some examples are "disgusticified" and "braverism." Or a giant banner that reads "CONGRATULOTIONS."
• Leave It to Me!:
  Goodhue: I want to say I went to the French Foreign Office—the Fifi D'Orsay.
  Thomas: The Quai. D'Orsai.
• In The Adding Machine, of the two Jewish Holidays that his employer allows Jews to take off, Mr. Zero only remembers the name of "Young Kipper."
• In The Haunted Through-Lounge and Recessed Dining Nook at Farndale Castle, Lottie Grosskopf is recently arrived from Austria and her grasp of English vocabulary and idiom slips from time to time.

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