He wasn’t the sharpest card in the deck

After a tour, the contributor’s travel companion remarked that the tour guide “wasn’t the sharpest card in the deck.”  This is a congruent conflation of “not the sharpest knife in the drawer”, and “not playing with a full deck”, both expressions describing someone who is slow-witted or dull. Because there are so many idioms describing a slow-witted person, they tend to get scrambled. I have posted many, including such favorites as “he was never the sharpest bulb” (just recently uttered by Trump, describing Biden), “not the brightest tool in the shed”, and “not the brightest knife in the drawer”. https://malaphors.com/2013/06/24/not-the-brightest-tool-in-the-shed/, https://malaphors.com/2017/08/03/not-the-sharpest-bulb-in-the-shed/, https://malaphors.com/2018/02/14/hes-not-the-brightest-knife-in-the-drawer/, , https://malaphors.com/2025/06/11/he-was-never-the-sharpest-bulb/

“Card sharp” (a person who uses skill or deception to win card games) might also be in the mix, says contributor Pierre Abbat. I agree, Pierre. The brain grabs words and phrases that are similar sounding or meaning and occasionally mixes them up.

A big thank you to Yvonne Stam for hearing this one and sending it in! Check out more of these congruent conflations in my books, “He Smokes Like a Fish and other Malaphors” and “Things are Not Rosy-Dory: Malaphors from Politicians and Pundits”, both available on Amazon!!