Thrown under the rug

This was heard on WSB Tonight (11:00 pm news), Atlanta. A college student participant in a March for Transparency: “The Johnny Holloman story is not one that is new to the public, but it’s one that’s been thrown under the rug, so we’re trying to raise awareness…”

This is a mixture of “sweep it under the rug (or carpet)” (hide or ignore something) and “throw him under the bus” (sacrifice someone for personal gain).   It is similar to the 12/23/12 malaphor posting “brush it under the rug”.   The confusion seems to lie in action words such as sweep, brush, and throw.  Also there are “throw rugs”. And of course, many of us have thrown a few items under the rug when company came unannounced.  A big thank you to P.W. Tsuboi for hearing this one and sending it in!