The Sopranos Malapropisms
The mobsters in the series are depicted as tough, savvy, and street-smart but lacking education and common sense. The characters are frequently oblivious to the humorous usage of their language and ignorance. The show's many malapropisms are often a source of humor for the viewers.[1]
Paulie pronounces "Mayhem" as "Mayham" in the third episode of season six,[5] giving the episode its title.
When New York mob boss Carmine Lupertazzi makes his first appearance in the third episode of Season 3 (Episode 29), "Fortunate Son," he reassures Tony that seeing a therapist is nothing to be ashamed of: "There's no stigmata."
His son, Little Carmine, is also given to malapropisms, saying of his movie-producing in "Cold Stones" that "I have nine pictures under my sub-species" and explaining the final scene in Cleaver as a mix of "the sacred and the propane" ("Stage 5").
In the second episode of season one, Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri laments to "Big Pussy" that Americans are stealing Italian culture and making money as a result (pizza, calzones, etc. are cited as examples). Paulie also cites "Expresso" (emphasis on "X") coffee as something stolen by Americans from Italian culture and sold in the mainstream for profit; the coffee is actually spelled and pronounced "Espresso".
In the first episode of Season 4, Episode 40, "For All Debts Public and Private," Bobby Baccalieri drew the ire of Tony while discussing world events and biblical prophecy by erroneously stating that "Quasimodo predicted all of this." Tony then corrected him by saying that he meant Nostradamus and that Quasimodo was the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Tony has had several instances of misused language. He mentions his uncle's "cathode" when referring to a catheter in the eleventh episode of Season 2, Episode 24, "House Arrest." In season four, he attributes a quote of Rodney King, "Why can't we all just get along?", to "the Reverend Rodney King Jr." Tony apparently inherited this trait from his father, Johnny Soprano, who in Season 1 episode 7, "Down Neck", told his wife, Livia, she was an "albacore around his neck." In Season 6, Episode 16, "Chasing It" he talks about "Vito's passing and all that entrails."
Key plot lines of the show highlight the characters ineptitude and frequent misunderstandings of history and common knowledge. When Paulie mentions what he thinks caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and a lady diner queries, "Wasn't that a meteor?", Paulie dismissively replies "they're all meat-eaters".
When Tony Blundetto becomes involved in a business dealing with a Korean, Paulie reminds him to "remember Pearl Harbor".
Much of the episode "Pine Barrens" was devoted to the failings of Paulie and Christopher as they attempted to survive a single day and night in a snowy wilderness after a botched execution. In this episode, Tony tells them to be careful with the subject of their execution as he once allegedly killed 16 Chechen rebels and was part of the Russian Interior Ministry. When Paulie later repeats this claim, he says that the subject killed 16 Czechoslovakians and was an interior decorator.
Earlier in the same episode Christopher shows his bad knowledge of history when he talks about Russians with Paulie. In the pilot, Christopher explains his understanding that Polish people are from Czechoslovakia.
He believes his girlfriend has two uteri in the seventh episode of Season 4, Episode 46, "Watching Too Much Television" and, in Episode 82, "Walk Like a Man," moments before he shoots J. T. Dolan, Christopher mis-repeats Tony's comment that he's ostracizing himself from the other mobsters by not drinking and asks Dolan, "Why are you ostrafrying me?"
In Season 6, episode 6, Tony talks to Melfi about homosexuality, misquoting (and mangling the name of) then-Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum saying "I agree with that Senator Sanitorium. He says if we let this stuff go too far, pretty soon we'll be fucking dogs." [6]
Tony often repeats things that Dr. Melfi says to him elsewhere, only to get the phrase entirely wrong or completely miss the point. When Melfi told him that his relationship with Gloria can be described as "Amour Fou" ("crazy love"), Tony later repeats the phrase to Gloria, describing their affair as "Our Mofo".
In the tenth episode of the fifth season, "Cold Cuts," Tony says "revenge is like serving cold cuts" only to be corrected by Dr. Melfi saying, "Revenge is a dish best served cold".
In "Commendatori" Paulie travels to Italy and attempts to blend in with the locals, but does not realize that he is repeatedly being mocked.
On another occasion Tony remarks to Dr. Melfi that he has read a book she recommended, The Art of War by Sun Tzu, but that many of his compatriots have read Prince Matchabelli, a malapropism that simultaneously alludes to a perfume and the book The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli.[episode needed]
Little Carmine, too, often muddles metaphors, as in "The Second Coming," when he tells Tony, "You're at the precipice of an enormous crossroad." Some characters, however, are portrayed as well spoken in contrast. For instance, Johnny Sack almost never used malapropisms.[7]
The mobsters in the series are depicted as tough, savvy, and street-smart but lacking education and common sense. The characters are frequently oblivious to the humorous usage of their language and ignorance. The show's many malapropisms are often a source of humor for the viewers.[1]
Paulie pronounces "Mayhem" as "Mayham" in the third episode of season six,[5] giving the episode its title.
When New York mob boss Carmine Lupertazzi makes his first appearance in the third episode of Season 3 (Episode 29), "Fortunate Son," he reassures Tony that seeing a therapist is nothing to be ashamed of: "There's no stigmata."
His son, Little Carmine, is also given to malapropisms, saying of his movie-producing in "Cold Stones" that "I have nine pictures under my sub-species" and explaining the final scene in Cleaver as a mix of "the sacred and the propane" ("Stage 5").
In the second episode of season one, Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri laments to "Big Pussy" that Americans are stealing Italian culture and making money as a result (pizza, calzones, etc. are cited as examples). Paulie also cites "Expresso" (emphasis on "X") coffee as something stolen by Americans from Italian culture and sold in the mainstream for profit; the coffee is actually spelled and pronounced "Espresso".
In the first episode of Season 4, Episode 40, "For All Debts Public and Private," Bobby Baccalieri drew the ire of Tony while discussing world events and biblical prophecy by erroneously stating that "Quasimodo predicted all of this." Tony then corrected him by saying that he meant Nostradamus and that Quasimodo was the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Tony has had several instances of misused language. He mentions his uncle's "cathode" when referring to a catheter in the eleventh episode of Season 2, Episode 24, "House Arrest." In season four, he attributes a quote of Rodney King, "Why can't we all just get along?", to "the Reverend Rodney King Jr." Tony apparently inherited this trait from his father, Johnny Soprano, who in Season 1 episode 7, "Down Neck", told his wife, Livia, she was an "albacore around his neck." In Season 6, Episode 16, "Chasing It" he talks about "Vito's passing and all that entrails."
Key plot lines of the show highlight the characters ineptitude and frequent misunderstandings of history and common knowledge. When Paulie mentions what he thinks caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and a lady diner queries, "Wasn't that a meteor?", Paulie dismissively replies "they're all meat-eaters".
When Tony Blundetto becomes involved in a business dealing with a Korean, Paulie reminds him to "remember Pearl Harbor".
Much of the episode "Pine Barrens" was devoted to the failings of Paulie and Christopher as they attempted to survive a single day and night in a snowy wilderness after a botched execution. In this episode, Tony tells them to be careful with the subject of their execution as he once allegedly killed 16 Chechen rebels and was part of the Russian Interior Ministry. When Paulie later repeats this claim, he says that the subject killed 16 Czechoslovakians and was an interior decorator.
Earlier in the same episode Christopher shows his bad knowledge of history when he talks about Russians with Paulie. In the pilot, Christopher explains his understanding that Polish people are from Czechoslovakia.
He believes his girlfriend has two uteri in the seventh episode of Season 4, Episode 46, "Watching Too Much Television" and, in Episode 82, "Walk Like a Man," moments before he shoots J. T. Dolan, Christopher mis-repeats Tony's comment that he's ostracizing himself from the other mobsters by not drinking and asks Dolan, "Why are you ostrafrying me?"
In Season 6, episode 6, Tony talks to Melfi about homosexuality, misquoting (and mangling the name of) then-Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum saying "I agree with that Senator Sanitorium. He says if we let this stuff go too far, pretty soon we'll be fucking dogs." [6]
Tony often repeats things that Dr. Melfi says to him elsewhere, only to get the phrase entirely wrong or completely miss the point. When Melfi told him that his relationship with Gloria can be described as "Amour Fou" ("crazy love"), Tony later repeats the phrase to Gloria, describing their affair as "Our Mofo".
In the tenth episode of the fifth season, "Cold Cuts," Tony says "revenge is like serving cold cuts" only to be corrected by Dr. Melfi saying, "Revenge is a dish best served cold".
In "Commendatori" Paulie travels to Italy and attempts to blend in with the locals, but does not realize that he is repeatedly being mocked.
On another occasion Tony remarks to Dr. Melfi that he has read a book she recommended, The Art of War by Sun Tzu, but that many of his compatriots have read Prince Matchabelli, a malapropism that simultaneously alludes to a perfume and the book The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli.[episode needed]
Little Carmine, too, often muddles metaphors, as in "The Second Coming," when he tells Tony, "You're at the precipice of an enormous crossroad." Some characters, however, are portrayed as well spoken in contrast. For instance, Johnny Sack almost never used malapropisms.[7]
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