Definition and Examples of Slips of the Tongue

Definition and Examples of Slips of the Tongue A slip of the tongue is a mistake in speaking, usually trivial, sometimes amusing. Also called  lapsus linguae or tongue-slip. As David Crystal has noted, studies of tongue-slips have revealed a great deal about the neuropsychological processes that underlie speech (The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, 2010). EtymologyA translation of the Latin, lapsus linguae, cited by John Dryden in 1667. Examples and Observations [British Prime Minister]  David Cameron  has accidentally described the 7 May election as career-defining when he meant country-defining, his third gaffe of recent days.  His mistake on Friday was immediately jumped on by his opponents as unintentionally revealing that he was more concerned about his own job prospects than the future of the UK.  It is likely that the prime minister will step down as Tory leader if he is voted out of Downing Street.This is a real career-defining . . . country-defining election that we face in less than a week’s time, he told an audience at the headquarters of Asda in Leeds.(Rowena Mason, Cameron Mocked After Describing Election as Career-Defining.  The Guardian, May 1, 2015)In an apparent slip of the tongue on the campaign trail yesterday, Mitt Romney mixed up the names of Al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.The former Massachusetts governor was criticizing Democrats on foreign policy when he said, according to the Associated Press, Actually, just look at what Osam- Barack Obama- said just yesterday. Barack Obama, calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq. That is the battlefield. . . . Its almost as if the Democratic contenders for president are living in fantasyland. . . .Romney, who was speaking at a Chamber of Commerce meeting in Greenwood, S.C., was referring to an audiotape broadcast Monday on Al Jazeera, purportedly of bin Laden, calling for insurgents in Iraq to unite.  Romney spokesman Kevin Madden later explained: Governor Romney simply misspoke. He was referring to the recently released audiotape of Osama bin Laden and misspoke when referencing his name. It was just a brief mix-up.(Marcella Bombardieri, Romney Mixes Up Osama, Obama During S.C. Speech. The Boston Globe, October 24, 2007) We need laws that protect everyone. Men and women, straights and gays, regardless of sexual perversion . . . ah, persuasion . . ..(New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug, quoted by Robert Louis Young in Understanding Misunderstandings: A Practical Guide to More Successful Human Interaction. University of Texas Press, 1999)The Badger State boasts [John] Kerrys most famous slip of the tongue: the time he declared his love for Lambert Field, suggesting that the states beloved Green Bay Packers play their home games on the frozen tundra of the St. Louis airport.(Chris Suellentrop, Kerry Puts the Gloves On. Slate, October 16, 2004)Types of Slips of the TongueNormal speech contains a large number of such slips, though these mostly pass unnoticed. The errors fall into patterns, and it is possible to draw conclusions from them about the underlying mechanisms involved. They can be divided into (1) Selection errors, where a wrong item has been chosen, usually a lexical item, as with tomorrow inste ad of today in Thats all for tomorrow. (2) Assemblage errors, where the correct items have been selected, but they have been assembled in the wrong order, as in holed and sealed for soled and healed.(Jean Aitchison, Slip of the Tongue. The Oxford Companion to the English Language, 1992) Causes of Slips of the TongueMost everyday slips of the tongue . . . are often simply the result of a sound being carried over from one word to the next, as in black bloxes (for black boxes), or a sound used in one word in anticipation of its occurrence in the next word, as in noman numeral (for roman numeral), or a tup of tea (cup), or the most highly played player (paid). The last example is close to the reversal type of slip, illustrated by shu flots, which may not make you beel fetter if youre suffering from a stick neff, and its always better to loop before you leak. The last two examples involve the interchange of word-final sounds and are much less common than word-initial slips.(George Yule, The Study of Language. Cambridge University Press, 2010)Predicting Slips of the Tongue[I]t is possible to make predictions about the form tongue slips are likely to take when they occur. Given the intended sentence The car missed the bike / but hit the wall (where / marks an intonation/rh ythm boundary, and the strongly stressed words are italicized), the likely slips are going to include bar for car or wit for hit. Most unlikely would be har for car (showing the influence of a less prominent word in the second tone unit) or lit for hit (showing a final consonant replacing an initial one).(David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, 3rd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2010) Freud on Slips of the TongueIf a slip of the tongue that turns what the speaker intended to say into its opposite is made by one of the adversaries in a serious argument, it immediately puts him at a disadvantage, and his opponent seldom wastes any time in exploiting the advantage for his own ends.(Sigmund Freud, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1901), trans. by Anthea Bell. Penguin, 2002)The Lighter Side of Tongue Slips- Jerry: For my murinal, I was inspired by the death of my grandma.Tom: You said murinal![Everyone laughs]Jerry: No, I didnt.Ann: Yes, you did. You said murinal. I heard it.Jerry: Anyway, sheApril: Jerry, why dont you put that murinal in the mens room so people can murinate all over it?Tom: Jerry, go to the doctor. You might have a murinary tract infection.[Jerry takes down his mural and walks away defeated.]Jerry: I just wanted to show you my art.Everyone: Murinal! Murinal! Murinal!(The Camel, Parks and Recreation, 2010)- I understand you have taken exception to my calling you whores. Im sorry. I apologize. I ask you to note that I did not call you callous-ass strumpets, fornicatresses, or low-born gutter sluts. But I did say whores. No escaping that. And for that slip of the tongue, I apologize.(Paul Newman as Roy Bean in The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, 1972)- Maizie said, At Sharis, for only fifteen dollars, you can get a haircut and a blow job.Oh? The gentleman looked surprised . . . and interested.Violet leaned over and said, She means a blow dry.Oh, he said, his voice dropping as the full realization of his loss occurred to him.(Tina Welling, Crybaby Ranch. New American Library, 2008)