Jumping through red tape

A couple was watching the Tulsa King and noted a character released from prison griping about the necessary paperwork to acquire a bank account. One commented, “yeah, it’s frustrating jumping through red tape all the time”. This is a nice mix of “jump through hoops” (to complete or face many challenges to achieve something) and “red tape” (bureaucratic rules that are overly strict or tedious).  Both expressions refer to a series of challenges or events, contributing to the confusion.  A big thanks to Patti Palladino for uttering this nice conflation and Skip Kennedy for sending it in!

A safety blanket

A couple was discussing the recent cryptocurrency scams and how people lost large sums of money. One said, “how foolish do you have to be to not have a safety blanket in those situations?” This is a nice congruent conflation of “safety net” and “security blanket”, both referring to something that makes you feel safer and dispels anxiety.

A tip of the hat to Adam Jacob for unintentionally saying this one, recognizing it as a malaphor, and sending it in!

Don’t put all your ducks in a basket

This one was heard on the HGTV show “Househunters”. The husband said to his wife, “Don’t put all your ducks in a basket.” This is an eggselent conflation of “get your ducks in a row” (get well-organized) and “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” (don’t risk everything on one venture).  Idioms containing the words eggs, ducks, or baskets seem to get commonly scrambled.  Type any one of these words in the search and you will find many postings on the subjects.

A big thanks to Fandango, that malaphor wise quacker, for hearing this one and sending it in!