Two Important Questions with Answer from "Oops ! How's That Again" and Summary

English | Questions
Oops ! How's That Again
Roger Rosenblatt
Class : 11 | The Magic of Words

Summary

This essay describes the mistakes people make when speaking, and the reasons why they make these mistakes. The mistakes are divided into categories, for example slips of the tongue, faux pas, mistranslation and spoonerisms. Slips of the tongue are common mistakes where the speaker says one thing when they mean to say another. Usually a faux pas occurs when a person says something that he or she thinks is harmless but it actually has a meaning that will upset some people. Mistranslations are mistakes made when words in one language are translated badly into another language. Spoonerisms occur when a person mixes up the letters of the words they are saying. The author gives examples of each type of mistakes being made by a famous person. This essay looks at why we make mistakes. Several theories are described. One theory is that mistakes show our inner thoughts. These are the thoughts we have inside us but want to keep secret. This essay explains why we find mistakes humorous. For example, sometimes we find mistakes funny because we are being meant, but at other times we laugh because we fell sympathy. This is because we all make mistake. 

Important Questions 

1. Into what group has Rosenblatt organized his blunders example of verbal miss-steps? 

Ans: Rosenblatt has organized them into four groups: public blunder, memorable mistranslations, bloopers and spoonerisms. First he talks about public blunders e.g. Nancy Regan describes the voters as "The beautiful white people" secondly, the writers say about memorable translation. This type of error is created when "Come alive with Pepsi" another verbal error is blooper is generally made on TV and radio programmes. In place of saying "Herbert Hoover" one says "Boobert Heever". The fourth error is "Spoonerisms" once Spooner said to his students. "You have hissed all my mystery lectures" instead of "You have missed all my history lectures." 

2. What explanation does Rosenblatt advice for the human tendency to make verbal errors? 

Ans: The writer examines many reasons why the speaker makes such errors. According to the writer, slip of the tongue is the main cause of the mistakes (verbal errors). Slip of the tongue is like slip on the banana peels. The thoughts in our mind are put into the grammatical order before we express them. According to Freud, the slips or the verbal errors are caused by the speaker's inner desires. The tongue slips also because other types or verbal errors such as blooper (stupid mistakes) and spoonerism. The writer says that nothing is perfect and ever successful. It is human nature to make mistakes. 

Questions for Practice 

1. Provide two examples of verbal errors from the text "Oops! How's that Again" from accrual life. Explain why people make such errors. 

2. In "Opps! How is that again?" Rosenblatt talks about various types of verbal errors that people make. Take up one such error from your own experience or from some other source, and guess the possible cause.