Question

Asa is buying a gift for his mother, an overbearing woman who is difficult to please. when a clerk asks him who he is shopping for he replies, "my smother" instead of "my mother." what does this exemplify?

Answer 1

This exemplifies a Freudian slip.
It refers to something you think unconsciously, and then say it, without realizing what it actually means. So, Asa didn't want to say 'my smother,' but rather 'my mother,' however, he knows that his mom is a difficult person, and thus unconsciously, he said what he didn't mean to say, but rather just thought about it.