2023 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)

2021 – The new President says he wants to turn over a new page (submitted by Frank King)

2022 – Backseat Quarterback (submitted by Chuck Hatsis)

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

Raddle (January 2023 – submitted by Staci DeKunder) This word blend malaphor of racquet and paddle described the contributor’s pickleball paddle.

Chewing the shit (April 2023 – submitted by Dan Geier). Disgusting but worthy of recognition

I don’t want to be a stick on a log (October 2023 – submitted by Sally Minnock). A perfectly formed congruent conflation.

Running around like chickens tearing our hair out (May 2023 – submitted by Marcia Johnston). The visual to this nice mashup had to be my runner-up of the year.

But the winner this year is His cards of lies are about to crumble, submitted by Mike Kovacs (December 2023). Yes, this is an exceedingly rare Triple Malaphor, heard on the CBS crime show 48 Hours. It is a mashup of “house of cards” (a weak and fragile plan), “web of lies” (an intricate contrivance of deceit), and “that’s how the cookie crumbles” (accepting the way things happen or develop). The triple malaphor is like spotting the Spix’s macaw, and I thank Mike for his keen ears.

Happy New Year everyone!