Word of the Day
catachresis \kat-uh-KREE-sis\ noun
*1 : use of the wrong word for the context
2 : use of a forced and especially paradoxical figure of speech
Example sentence:
The paper printed a correction for the previous day’s catachresis: dubbing a local artist-philanthropist a “socialist” when they meant “socialite.”
I find myself calling Bingley a “fascist” when I meant to say “fathead”, so this has some relevance.
Littrachure | Mr. Bingley | 
November 3, 2005 3:54 pm
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Are you inferring that I use words incorrectly?
Well, I think she meant something else when she accused you of senile dysfunction.
Cullen, that was the other place. Talk about senile…
I never said that, CulLEN. His senility is functioning just fine.
I realize his senility is functioning fine. Hence the catachresis.
The nuns were very mean when they were teaching my catachresis classes.
Not being Catholic, I have no idea what you’re Tolkien about.
Oh heck, Cullen, even folks who aren’t Catholic know about nuns; they’re the women who wear hobbits on their heads.
Of course I know the nones. Watt I was Tolkien about was the catharsis. I intended private school. But our Christian instructors didn’t hit us with rulers when we fried ents with magnifying glasses.
I thought “catachresis” was something they put on people confined to a hospital bed?