Unit - 3
Oops! How's That Again? - Analysis
Roger Rosenbatt
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The essay "Oops! How's That Again?" written by
Roger Rosenbatt deals with verbal error and outlines the responsible factors
behind such errors. The essay starts with different types of verbal errors such
as slip of tongue, mistranslation, bloopers and spoonerism. The essay also
takes the reference of many psychologists and linguists to talk about the
reasons behind such verbal error.
The writer in the essay talks about 'slip of tongue' as a
verbal error which can also be taken as a careless or slight mistake.
Sometimes, we want to say something but accidently, we happen to say something
else. The proper example for slip of tongue is, businessman Peter Balfour
wished Prince Charles long life and conjugal happiness with lady Jane instead
of Lady Diana. Likewise, the Governor James Thompson was introduced as 'The
mayor of Illinois'.
Mistranslation is another kind of verbal error which occurs
if somebody is not good at translating one language into another. Nervousness and
carelessness can also cause mistranslation to some extent. For example the
slogan, "Come alive with Pepsi" was translated in German as
"Come alive out of the grave with Pepsi". And elsewhere, it was
translated as "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave".
Likewise, the writer talks about blooper which is known as a public mistake.
This type of verbal error often occurs on television and radio. For instance,
Herbert Hoover was introduced as Hoobert Heever.
Finally, the writer talks about spoonerism. When the initial
(beginning) sounds of the letters of the words are replaced with one another,
spoonerism occurs. For example: One spooner scolded his student, "You have
hissed all my mystery lectures." Actually he meant to say:"You have
missed all my history lectures."
Visit English Notes for HSEB
(http://hsebenglish.blogspot.com)
for the complete analysis of this chapter....
(http://hsebenglish.blogspot.com)
for the complete analysis of this chapter....
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