mistalk

English

Etymology

From mis- +‎ talk.

Verb

mistalk (third-person singular simple present mistalks, present participle mistalking, simple past and past participle mistalked)

1. To speak badly; to stutter, garble one's words, mispronounce words, substitute incorrect words, or make other such errors.

   Synonym: misspeak

   • 1904 October, Charles G. Mutzenbergh, “The Stenographer”, in The Phonographic Magazine and National Shorthand Reporter:

     The dictater frequently misreads or mistalks a word. If the error is plain, and leaves no room for doubt that it is an error, don't copy that error.

   • 1999, María Rosa Fort Brescia, Moisés Lemlij, At the threshold of the millennium, page 63:

     Freud merges the two communicative scenes in his writing : the restricted clinical one with its specificity of talking, mistalking, listening , mislistening, and the larger public one of writing and reading.

   • 2021, Maryse Condé, Crossing the Mangrove:

     Amazed, the audience looked at each other. What had come over their favorite storyteller to mistalk like that?

2. To talk inappropriately, misleadingly, mistakenly, or otherwise untruely.

   Synonym: misspeak

   Coordinate term: talk out of turn

   • 1910, George Saintsbury, A History of English Prosody from the Twelfth Century to the Present Day, page 218:

     But the only thing that he retained of this first study was a certain "breathlessness" which is not absent in Shelley, but which assumes quite different form in Browning, and which is in fact the right name for his much mistalked of "obscurity."

   • 1937, Margaret Gardner Mayorga, editor, The Best One-act Plays of 1937, page 91:

     I don't aim to mistalk ye. I jest want to tell ye how it was.

   • 1992 September 27, President George Bush, Remarks to the Community in Wixom, Michigan:

     For 11 months he's been mistalking about my record, misdirecting it, misstating it.

   • 2014, Max. Wellspring Oseogena, The Empowered Life!, page 178:

     And then also, those who out of their own self-righteousness or disappointments for those being processed start to misbehave or mistalk and even lose their faith because of this.

   • 2021, Daai Readington, Teenage rebellion, page 117:

     Nevertheless I went, "what? Tell me right away, I got kids to play with" got kids to play with? I mistalked, I really did, they're not my kids.

   • 2021, Riya Rashmi Dash, Sriya Sri, The Colossal Book, page 13:

     Others, one who mistalk about her were very surprised and ashamed of themselves.

Noun

mistalk (usually uncountable, plural mistalks)

1. The act or content of mistalking.
   • 1995, Marshall Wilensky, Candace Leiden, TCP/IP for Dummies, page 97:

     What you type gets sent across the network immediately. That means your talkee sees exactly what you type, including mistakes and "mistalks," so think before you type!

   • 2007, Shahid Nasim Hyder, Love, Jehad, and Terrorism, page 50:

     The noise came nearer the door and Mian Sahib saw the thrashing of the boy-servant whose crime was mistalk.

   • 2011, Yemi Adebiyi, The Pastor's Prostitute:

     You are the normal child of the deaf that was told all the mistalk by his mother.