2021 Malaphor of the Year!!

It’s now time to reveal this year’s Malaphor of the Year.  But before I unveil this masterpiece, here are the winners of past years:

2015 – I have a pulse to the ground (submitted by Paula Garrety)

2016 – Let’s give them a round of hand! (submitted by Martin Pietrucha)

2017 – Welcome to my shoes (submitted by Steve Kovacs)

2018 – Whatever turns your boat (submitted by John Kooser)

2019 – My old car shit the bucket (submitted by John Fischer)

2020 – You’re a one-horse pony (submitted by Bruce Ryan and Ron MacDonald)

Before I reveal the winner, I want to give a shout out to the runners-up:

I was out like a rock (August 2021 – submitted by Joanne Grieme). A nice congruent conflation of out like a light and slept like a rock.

Republicans didn’t blink twice (January 2021 – submitted by Barry Eigen). Subtle mashup.

When the shit hit the storm (January 2021 – submitted by Jack Chandler). Howard Stern describing January 6.

A yankering (May 2021 – submitted by Barry Eigen). A great word blend malaphor of yen and hankering.

But the winner this year was submitted by the prolific malaphor contributor, Frank King, when he spotted this beauty on 60 Minutes:

The new President says he wants to turn over a new page

Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes said this one, referring to Biden’s plans. This is a nice congruent conflation of “turn over a new leaf” and “turn the page”, both meaning to make a fresh start or start anew. This one makes a lot of sense as the “leaf” in the expression “turn over a new leaf” refers to a page in a book. Or a Clinton freudian slip? Happy New Year everyone!