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“malapropisms”
1. A significant misuse of words by mixing them up with other words that have similar pronunciations; often with an unintentionally amusing result: Mrs. Highhead often used malapropisms when speaking to her friends, trying to sound very refined but getting her words mixed up and causing a great deal of laughter.
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A radio psychologist was heard to say, "If everybody does their job, they will be happier."
Why can't people realize that "everybody" is singular and so should take a singular pronoun reference (his/her) instead of "their"? The same is true for "everyone"! Why not say: "If everyone does his or her job then he or she will be happier."
2. The unintentional misuse of words by confusing them with other elements of speech or writing by using similar pronunciations: Joe expressed a malapropism when he told his friends that he was not under the "affluence" of alcohol.Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
What the mother in the cartoon meant to say is aspirations (ardently desiring); NOT aspersions (attack a person's reputation or good name)!
Is it possible that she also wanted to say that her son wants to be an artist instead of a drawer?
Quotes: Malaprops, Malapropisms
Speaking a foreign language in English: malaprop quotes.
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Quotes: Quotations Units
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Units related to:
“malapropisms”
(Mrs. Malaprop and her Malapropisms)
(Ludicrous-English Caused by Blunders and Incompetence)
(speaking a foreign language in English; the inability to tell what a person does not mean until he/she has spoken)