I’m going to pull his button

Posted: December 29, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: ACTION, button, pull, push, THINGS | Tags: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Push or pull?  It’s a choice we make everyday.   In this case, the speaker made the wrong choice but a great malaphor.  It is a mash up of “pushing his button” (to do the exact thing to make someone act the way you want) and “pulling his leg” (to fool or trick someone).  A big thanks to Jack de Golia for sending this one in!

He doesn’t want to appear to be pushing on anyone’s toes

Posted: January 12, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: ACTION, BODY PARTS, push, toes | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I can’t remember the context of this odd malaphor but it could be a mash up of “stepping on someone’s toes” (offend someone) and possibly “push the envelope” (to go further beyond the accepted limits).  However, I think “pushover” (a person easily taken advantage of)  or “pushy” (overly forward) is probably what the speaker was thinking of as he might be describing himself as both not offending his audience and taking advantage of them.

He kept pushing my strings

Posted: November 24, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: ACTION, CLOTHING, pull, push, strings, THINGS | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Push or pull?  Buttons or strings?  Oh, the mind twists and turns in mysterious ways, particularly as one grows older.  I heard myself saying this one awhile back.  This is a confused conflation of “pushing his buttons” (knowing ways to make a person angry) and “pulling strings” (“to use influence to get something done”).    Of course, I am sure Pinocchio must have said this at some point to Geppetto.

Cover of "Geppetto"

Cover of Geppetto