We’ll be buttoning down the hatches

Mayor Randall Henderson, Jr. Of Fort Myers, FL uttered this one on The Weather Channel as the city was bracing for hurricane Irma.  It is a nice mix up of “batten down the hatches”  (to prepare for a challenging situation) and “button up” (to close something, usually a space, securely).  One might argue that this is just a malaprop, confusing batten with button.  However, as Malaphor King, I determine that it is a malaphor.  The speaker might have been confusing up with down, and he was referring to the city needing to secure itself for the impending storm, hence the idea of buttoning up something.  A big thanks to Steve Kovacs for hearing this one and sending it in.