Why can't people - particularly MPs - just admit to getting a name wrong instead of claiming they 'mis-spoke'. Matt Hancock called Marcus Rashford 'Daniel Rashford' on tv. Then, by way of an apology, said that he had been reading Harry Potter to his son, the night before, and that it was probably still fresh in his mind at 7 a.m.
All fine and good, but Daniel Ratcliffe's actual name is never mentioned in any of the Harry Potter books. At least, as far as I know. Why on earth couldn't he have just put his hand up and admitted his gaffe instead of reaching for a spade?
the man who calls a spade a spade should learn how to use one - The Divine Oscar
Wilde uses it in The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).
a somewhat unfortunate reference
perhaps Ken had been perusing (theatres closed) the play Leddy WIndermere's Fan also by the Divine Oscar
and had misread it as Lady WIndermere;s funny OR
he wished to fan the flames of controversy !
That's the kind of chain mistake I would make....and it is a misspeak....the brain knows its an error even as the mouth is moving. I have evolved a coping strategy fo saying "I want to say xxx" but I know that's not right" which kind of unblocks the mental process and lets me proceed to the right word, but its not useful in public. I find its most likely to happen to me when my brain is multi tasking or I am stressed so I don't find it surprising if Matt H did it. Its not a big deal.
The only thing I've been perusing today is the racing form, PP. To no avail, this far.
Woofgang; agreed, not a big deal. Hence my question as to why he couldn't just put his hand up and correct himself.
You don't get where i'm coming from, woof. No explanation needed. He got the guy's name wrong. We've all done it. When it's pointed out that I've done it, I just say, "Yeah, that's what I , meant to say."
I keep forgetting not only words but whole common phrases.
I'll never compete with the multi lingual ABers like Peter, who speak, '' forrin, '' and ancient Greek and !eave me perp?exed.