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When the rubber hits the fan

Posted: August 5, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: ACTION, THINGS | Tags: , , , , , , , |4 Comments

This beauty was overheard in a meeting by my friend Gerry.  The speaker, who is about to retire, said that she did not want to be around “when the rubber hits the fan”.  This malaphor combines “where the rubber meets the road” (the moment of truth) and “when the shit hits the fan” (a messy consequence from a secret about to be made public).  Both indicate something about to happen, hence the mix-up.   Any other thoughts?

4 Comments on “When the rubber hits the fan”

  1. Your ol' pal's avatar Your ol' pal says:
    August 5, 2012 at 4:15 am

    Irrelevancies: Put the pedal to the medal (maybe something to do with Olympic bike racing?) and put the petal to the metal (go easy on the gas.) These just occurred 2me.

    Reply
  2. Xavier Lesaffre's avatar Xavier Lesaffre says:
    August 5, 2012 at 6:10 am

    Thank you Dave for this article. I really like to read your posts as they help me learn or review idioms in an interesting way.
    Xavier

    Reply
  3. Michael's avatar Michael says:
    August 5, 2012 at 9:00 am

    When the shit hit the road, he found himself on a slippery slope.

    Reply

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