Harp Column Blogs: Carl SwansonArchive

Sometimes we have to remember that we have a life away from the harp. This blog has NOTHING to do with the harp. It's a memorial to a woman who died recently, and who I never met, but who I will miss. She was the mother of my partner's brother-in-law. Her name was Emma Sue, and she died a few weeks ago at the age of 89. She lived in Dallas, where my partner's family lives, and she was the living reincarnation of Mrs. Malaprop, the wonderful comic character in Sheridan's 1720(or thereabouts) play, The Rivals. The character Mrs. Malaprop constantly uses words that sound like the ones she means to use, and so she turns each sentence on its head. That character spawned the words Malaprop(to use a word incorrectly) and Malapropism.

I'll quote some of my favorite malapropisms of Emma Sue and then put in parantheses the word she meant.

The family went to a restaurant for dinner one day, and the host asked them if they wanted to sit inside or on the terrace. "Oh lets sit on the terrace,"Emma Sue said. "I love eating al dente." (Al fresco).

Another time she told the rest of the family that she had been at a restaurant when someone started to choke. "The waiter came over and did the heinekin maneuver on him" she said. (Heimlick manoever).

At a large family dinner, the conversation turned to the (then in the news) troubles of Michael Jackson. "The one I can't stand" Emma Sue said "is his sister Toyota." (La Toya).

Emma Sue told the family on another occasion that she had just seen a wonderful movie called The Last of the Puerto Ricans.(The last of the Mohegans).

Her favorite TV show was Murder She Wrote, but Emma Sue called it either 'Murder She Said,' or 'That's All She Wrote.'

I'm going to miss Emma Sue.