Scoff it off

From a recent Miss Manners column: ” I have repeatedly asked them not to put their glasses on the counter. They scoff it off and frequently do it anyway. This is unsanitary and disgusting, in my opinion. Am I overreacting?”

This is a mashup of “scoff at” (to dismiss something with scorn or ridicule) and “shrug it off” (to dismiss the importance of something). Both idioms involve dismissing or minimizing something, and “scoff” and “shrug” are similar in sound. Here’s the link to the malaphor:

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2023/06/24/miss-manners-celebrity-neighbor-hello/

By the way, Miss Manners did think the author of the letter was overreacting. A big thanks to Barry Eigen for catching this one and sending it in. I never scoff off his submissions.