Jenifer’s Reviews > Going to Hell in a Hen Basket: An Illustrated Dictionary of Modern Malapropisms > Status Update

Will-o’-the-wisp and jack-o’-lantern name the same phenomenon of mysterious lights that lure travelers into bogs and marshes in European folklore and fairy lore. J.R.R. Tolkien’s character Old Man Willow and the Harry Potter books’ Whomping Willow attest that willow trees (genus Salix) are also associated with magic, spirits, and gates to the underworld.

“Spitting image” was originally the MALAPROPISM, but it has now replaced “spit and image” as STANDARD USAGE in America. Spit has meant duplicate since the 1600s.

“Pneumatic device” - A mnemonic device, from the Greek mnēmōn (mindful) rather than from pneuma (wind), helps one remember things.

“Parrot-phrase” - Usually a PUN. To parrot is to imitate slavishly; to paraphrase is to convey something’s meaning with different words.

Lover, land (Landlubber) - A lubber was originally a stupid lout, the word deriving from a French word for a crook. ‘Landlubber‘ was sailor slang for someone unused to the sea and its ways, though some landlubbers grow to love the sea.

Another odd and amusing example:
Heartship (claim heartship, financial heartship). Confuses hard and heart, perhaps influenced by hard-hearted • “Family Members taken on a non-command sponsored tour will be faced with financial heartship due to no logistical support.”

Entertaining discussion of English language malapropisms; cf misheard lyrics (Excuse me, while I kiss this guy)
I liked blackmale entry. OED = male or maile was medieval Scots dialect for rent. Blackmaile referred to raids by highland Scottish warlords demanding protection money from lowland farmers they threatened.