ABSTRACT
It is commonly assumed that when we smile at a misused language, what amuses us is the ignorance, or pretended ignorance, of the character using it. The fact is that distortions of our speech patterns are intrinsically funny when plausibly introduced, and the function of the ignorant character is usually to introduce them plausibly. James Russell Lowell attributed substantially the same mispronunciations to Hosea Biglow, whom he offered as a guide and counselor to the nation, and to Birdofreedom Sawin, whom he held up as a prime rapscallion to the nation’s contempt. He did so for the same reason in both cases—namely that mispronunciations are funny.
A man came into a butcher shop and asked for “a pound of kidlies.”
“Kidlies?” the butcher said. “You mean kidneys, don’t you?”
The man looked surprised.
“I said kidlies, did’l I?”
