The next time you burn the roof of your mouth eating hot pizza, consider this: Isn’t the roof of the mouth actually the ceiling?
Why does this misnomer persist? Oral tradition?
(The “oral tradition” joke illustrates the power of puns, which I cover in another post.)
Misnomers are incorrect usages that tradition (i.e., years of misuse) has inoculated against the astute editor’s red pen.