Jeff Caplan’s Minute of News: Malapropism!
Mar 26, 2025, 9:00 PM
(Adobe Stock)
(Adobe Stock)
Editor’s note: This is an editorial piece. An editorial, like a news article, is based on fact but also shares opinions. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and are not associated with our newsroom.
SALT LAKE CITY — I used to work with a legendary sportscaster. His name was Ed Ingles. He interviewed Muhammad Ali. He knew Reggie Jackson, Joe Namath, Eli Manning, you name it. But on the air, Ed had a thing for malaprops. A malaprop is when you take a saying and screw it up.
Ed would say stuff like “The Jets were playing great, but in the 4th quarter they unraveled like a cheap swimsuit.” And you’d chuckle because it’s supposed to be “They unraveled like a cheap sweater.”
If a swimsuit unravels, that’s not the kind of imagery a guy like Ed meant to create. But the important part is that everybody loved Ed.
Which is why I figure Mike O’Brien must be good at his job. For 32 years, he ran Ford Motor Company’s special promotions. Like 0% down, or $1,000 cash back. That kind of stuff.
That was Mike. But his hobby was collecting all the malaprops in company memos and speeches at Ford. He kept a spreadsheet of thousands of them. And he kept a leaderboard of malaprops on the wall of his office. Lines like “too many cooks in the soup.” It’s supposed to be “too many cooks in the kitchen.” Or “I don’t want to sound like a broken drum.” Broken record. It’s supposed to be “a broken record.”
The Wall Street Journal reports that at Ford meetings, a speaker would hear a pen click and suddenly wonder, “Did I just say something stupid? Is Mike writing it down?”
Some people resented his suppository of malaprops. Yes, someone said that once. It’s not a suppository, it’s a repository.
But when you’re good at your job, you can get away with death.
Jeff Caplan is the host of Jeff Caplan’s Afternoon News on KSL NewsRadio. Follow him on Facebook and X.
