You’re preaching to the band
Posted: July 22, 2012 Filed under: ACTION, THINGS | Tags: band, choir, expressions, malaphors, mixed idioms, words 2 CommentsThis is a strange malaphor, as the mix-up is not an obvious one – “preaching to the choir” and “jumping on the bandwagon” perhaps? I heard this on tv years ago. Maybe the advent of rock bands in new age churches replacing traditional choirs confused the speaker?
Malaphors 
Actually, this is a mixture of two metaphors…. there is an expression “playing to the band” that is used when a performer (I heard it with Lenny Bruce) does materials that only the band would understand… either because it’s a show-biz insider thing or because (in this Lenny Bruce instance) it refers to drugs and they are the only ones hip enough to get a drug reference. It means like “an inside joke,” not QUITE the same as preaching to the choir, but darn close.
Dear supa,
Thank you for pointing out the other idiom – playing to the band. I think you are right that this is where the speaker gets things mixed up as preaching to the choir’s meaning is similar. By the way, a mixture of two metaphors is a malaphor (see about).