Have you heard about the confirmed septic? Or the doctor's hypocritical oath? Why do we find malapropisms so funny? One reason is they make us feel so superior - after all, we wouldn't make the silly verbal blunders poor Mrs Malaprop does - or would we? Many malapropisms are authentic, and reality has the uncanny knack of being a lot funnier than anything fiction can contrive. They illustrate the extraordinary richness of language, revealing hidden connections between words and concepts. Keep your ears open and you will hear many more of them because Mrs Malaprop is living near you!