It’s a difficult road to hoe

I published a similar malaphor a few years ago – “It’s been a long road to hoe” https://malaphors.com/2013/04/25/its-been-a-long-road-to-hoe/, and received recently yet another similar one from Gary Kelly – “”We’re going to have a hard road to tow”.  At first these might seem more like malaprops, with the word “road” substituting for “row”, but I think they are actually malaphors.  “A difficult road” and “a long road” have the same meaning as the intended phrase “it’s a difficult row to hoe”, so idioms have been confused.

This malaphor was spoken by Nina Easton on a Fox News Special Report, April 18, 2016, commenting on the challenges facing tax reform.  A big thanks to Jim Clees for hearing this one and passing it on!