Don’t get caught with the hot potato when it goes off
Posted: March 14, 2014 Filed under: grenade, potato | Tags: expressions, grenade, hot potato, humor, language, live grenade, malaphor, malaphors, potato, words 3 CommentsThis crazy mess was heard on a conference call. It is a mash up of “hot potato” and “playing with a live grenade”, both describing something dangerous or difficult to deal with. The speaker was urging people to move problems along. The speaker may have also been thinking of the German hand grenade called the potato masher. The Model 24 Stielhandgranate was the standard hand grenade of the German Army from the end of World War I until the end of World War II. The very distinctive appearance led to its being called a “stick grenade”, or a “potato masher” in British Army slang. Thank you to Yvonne Stam for hearing this one and passing it along, so to speak….
Dave. This is a classic. Love it.
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This one may become a classic mashup malafor someday, but for now I’m liking the mental, visual, image. I certainly wouldn’t want to be holding the hot potato when it goes off.
I just finished watching a really good movie (really—everyone should watch it) called: 20 Feet From Stardom. It’s a documentary about backup singers. Anyhow, Sting is in it several times, and near the end he says: “Real musicians, there’s a spiritual component to what they do. It’s got nothing to do with worldly success. The music they do is much more of an inner journey. Any other success is just cream on the cake.” I checked to see if it’s a Britishism, and I don’t think it is. Not a great one, but a mashup nonetheless.