They deserve a good clap on the back
Posted: July 10, 2013 Filed under: back, slap, wrist | Tags: blended idioms, clap, conflations, expressions, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, pat on the back, slap on the wrist, WESA, words Leave a commentI heard this one today on our local public radio station, WESA. The speaker was referring to the ACLU pursuing lawsuits against Pennsylvania laws supporting DOMA in response to the recent Supreme Court decision. He meant to say “pat on the back” (praise), but seems to have confused “slap on the wrist” (mild punishment) and “clap your hands”. Certainly clap as used as a noun has another meaning so my guess is he meant to say “pat”.
That was a mind changing experience
Posted: June 10, 2013 Filed under: mind | Tags: blended idioms, epxressions, humor, language, life changing, malaphors, mind blowing, mixed idioms, words Leave a commentThis is a mash up of “life changing” and “mind blowing”, both referring to powerful experiences. Big thanks to Elly Pietrucha for sending this one in to Malaphor Central.
I finally got the monkey off my shoulders
Posted: June 3, 2013 Filed under: back, monkey, shoulders | Tags: back, blended idioms, expressions, humor, Indianapolis 500, Indy 500, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, monkey, monkey off my back, shoulders, Tony Kanaan, wieight off my shoulders, words 1 Comment
The former logo of Mike and Mike in the Morning until May 4, 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This is a mash up of “monkey off my back” and “a weight off my shoulders”, both meaning to get rid of a big problem. Kudos to Mike Browning who heard this gem on the Mike & Mike talk show last week. Tony Kanaan was talking about finally
winning the Indy 500, and said that the victory finally got “the monkey
off my shoulders.” Malaphors occur frequently when there are two similar meaning idioms referring to body parts, particularly in close proximity.
You’ve got a chip up your ass
Posted: May 9, 2013 Filed under: ass, chip, stick | Tags: blended idioms, chip, chip on your shoulder, expressions, malaphors, mixed idioms, stick, stick up your ass, words 1 CommentI won’t reveal the source, but this is a mash up of “you’ve got a chip on your shoulder” (bad attitude) and “you’ve got a stick up your ass” (up tight). It also could describe the aftermath of gorging on a bag of Cape Cod potato chips in your underwear (never done that, just sayin’).
I just wanted to get it out of my chest
Posted: April 24, 2013 Filed under: chest | Tags: blended idioms, Boston Red Sox, chest, congruent conflation, david ortiz, expressions, get it off my chest, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, out of my system, words Leave a comment
English: David Ortiz Boston Red Sox player. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This congruent conflation mixes “get it out of my system” and “get it off my chest”, both meaning to unburden oneself. This was spoken by Boston Red Sox player David Ortiz‘ in response to his emotional pregame speech:
don’t think there was one human being who wasn’t affected by what we got
going on down here,” Ortiz said. “This past week, I was very emotional,
very angry about the whole situation. I had to get that out of my chest
and just make sure that our fans and everybody in the nation knows that
this is a great nation, and part of it was how everybody supported each
other when this thing went down. I’m happy to be a part of this
nation.”
Read more at: http://nesn.com/2013/04/david-ortiz-says-f-word-during-speech-just-came-out-feels-like-boston-should-be-pumped/
don’t think there was one human being who wasn’t affected by what we got
going on down here,” Ortiz said. “This past week, I was very emotional,
very angry about the whole situation. I had to get that out of my chest
and just make sure that our fans and everybody in the nation knows that
this is a great nation, and part of it was how everybody supported each
other when this thing went down. I’m happy to be a part of this
nation.”
Read more at: http://nesn.com/2013/04/david-ortiz-says-f-word-during-speech-just-came-out-feels-like-boston-should-be-pumped/
don’t think there was one human being who wasn’t affected by what we got
going on down here,” Ortiz said. “This past week, I was very emotional,
very angry about the whole situation. I had to get that out of my chest
and just make sure that our fans and everybody in the nation knows that
this is a great nation, and part of it was how everybody supported each
other when this thing went down. I’m happy to be a part of this
nation.”
Well put, Papi. Isn’t it great to have him back?
Have a question for Ricky Doyle? Send it to him via Twitter at
@TheRickyDoyle or send it here.
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In the News
NESN Team
Dale Arnold
John Beattie
Andy Brickley
Alison Bullock
Tom Caron
Mike Cole
Zack Cox
Jamison Coyle
Jenny Dell
Ricky Doyle
Dan Duquette, Jr.
Dennis Eckersley
Jack Edwards
Jamie Erdahl
Naoko Funayama
Peter Gammons
John Henry
Leah Hextall
Luke Hughes
Doug Kyed
Charlie Moore
Marcus O’Mard
Don Orsillo
Eric Ortiz
Jayme Parker
Adam Pellerin
Jerry Remy
Jim Rice
Jen Slothower
Zach Stoloff
Ben Watanabe
Read more at: http://nesn.com/2013/04/david-ortiz-says-f-word-during-speech-just-came-out-feels-like-boston-should-be-pumped/
don’t think there was one human being who wasn’t affected by what we got
going on down here,” Ortiz said. “This past week, I was very emotional,
very angry about the whole situation. I had to get that out of my chest
and just make sure that our fans and everybody in the nation knows that
this is a great nation, and part of it was how everybody supported each
other when this thing went down. I’m happy to be a part of this
nation.”
Read more at: http://nesn.com/2013/04/david-ortiz-says-f-word-during-speech-just-came-out-feels-like-boston-should-be-pumped/
“This past week, I don’t think there was one human being who wasn’t
affected by what we got going on down here,” Ortiz said. “This past week
for me, myself, I was very emotional and angry about whole situation
and got to get that out of my chest and make sure our fans and everyone
in the nation knows that this is a great nation and part of it was
supporting each other when everything went down.”
Thanks to Mike Browning for passing this gem along.
It was a hands down case
Posted: April 8, 2013 Filed under: BODY PARTS, hand | Tags: blended idioms, congruent conflation, expressions, hands down, humor, language, malaphors, slam dunk, words Leave a commentThis is a congruent conflation of “hands down” and “slam dunk”, the first an adverb and the second a noun, both meaning easily. The context reveals the reader meant to say slam dunk, as he was referring to an arbitration case with a former employer that he expected to win. A big thank you to Mike Kovacs who heard this one on NPR’s This American Life last week.
I don’t know it off the top of my hand
Posted: April 2, 2013 Filed under: hand, head | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, hand, head, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, off the top of my head, offhand, words 1 CommentThis is a mash up of “off the top of my head” and “offhand”, both meaning to say something without preparation. Hand and head both look and sound similar, and are both body parts, all adding to the confusion. I have heard this one many times in conversation and in meetings.
They played out of their heads
Posted: March 23, 2013 Filed under: head, mind | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, Florida Gulf coast University, head, humor, language, malaphors, mind, mixed idioms, words Leave a commentAnother malaphor from the sports world. A tv sports commentator uttered this one when describing an underdog basketball team. This is a mash up of “out of their minds” and “over their heads”, both describing a team that played beyond expectations. NCAA cinderella team perhaps?
Athletics logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It’s a thorn in the foot
Posted: March 21, 2013 Filed under: BODY PARTS, foot, thorn | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, fables, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, thorn, thorn in the side, words Leave a commentThis was uttered at a presentation where the speaker was describing a problem. It is a mash up of “thorn in the side” and possibly “shoot yourself in the foot”, but probably the speaker was thinking of the Aesop fable where the lion has a thorn in his paw. Or, as “my ol’ pal” notes, we sometimes get slivers in our feet when walking barefoot. Thanks to Cecily for sending this one to me!
Malaphors 
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