It’s a crap in the dark
Posted: December 26, 2012 Filed under: BODY PARTS, THINGS | Tags: blended idioms, crapshoot, expressions, malaphors, mixed idioms, shot in the dark, wild guess, words 1 CommentThis is a mash up of “shot in the dark” (wild guess) and “a crap-shoot” (risky enterprise), resulting in a phrase obviously not intended. This beauty was found in HomeRecording.com:
“This is just a crap in the dark, but have you tried disabling the drivers you don’t need in sonar?”
http://homerecording.com/bbs/user-forums-brand/cakewalk-sonar-forum/msdmo-dll-error-sonar-29157/
Eat my rubber!
Posted: December 22, 2012 Filed under: ACTION, burn, eat, rubber, THINGS | Tags: blended idioms, burn rubber, chevy chase, eat my dust, expressions, malaphors, mixed idioms, national lampoon's christmas vacation, words Leave a comment
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This classic malaphor is spoken by Clark (Chevy Chase) in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. His son corrects him, pointing out that it is a mash up of “eat my dust” and “burn rubber”. Thanks to John Costello for contributing this famous movie malaphor to the collection.
http://movieclips.com/VYvKC-christmas-vacation-movie-eat-my-rubber/
That’s a real ball of worms
Posted: December 18, 2012 Filed under: ANIMALS, THINGS, wax, worms | Tags: ball of wax, blended idioms, can of worms, expressions, malaphors, mixed idioms, words 1 Comment
worms (Photo credit: Wahj)
This is a mash-up of “can of worms” (a situation which causes difficulty when starting to deal with it) and “the whole ball of wax” (everything). The mix up may have been caused by the words worms and wax, both starting with w, and that both idioms have the preposition “of” in them. In addition, the context was an administrative hearing where the speaker was describing his home life, indicating that everything was a mess, hence the conflation of the two phrases.
We’ve got a lot of irons in the pipeline
Posted: December 13, 2012 Filed under: fire, pipeline, THINGS | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, in the pipeline, irons in the fire, malaphors, mixed idioms, words Leave a commentThis is a conflation of “in the pipeline” (plan being developed) and “irons in the fire” ( a number of jobs or possibilities available at the same time). I saw this in a memo years ago. As with most great unintentional malaphors, if you heard this at a meeting it might give you slight pause but it fits in the context so you probably would not remember it minutes later.
He is the top of the notch
Posted: December 11, 2012 Filed under: THINGS | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, malaphors, mixed idioms, top dog, top notch, top of the heap, words Leave a commentThis one reminds me of “cream of the cake”. The Master actually uttered this gem, which is a mixture of “top notch” and probably “top of the heap” or possibly “top dog”, all meaning the best. It is also the name of a restaurant on top of Mt. Baldy near Los Angeles.
He took the thunder out of my sails
Posted: December 10, 2012 Filed under: sails, THINGS, thunder | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, malaphors, mixed idioms, steal his thunder, thunder, wind, wind out of my sailsd, words Leave a commentThis is a mash up of “wind out of my sails”(someone’s boasting or arrogance is challenged) and “steal his thunder” (to lessen someone’s authority or force). Apparently this speaker’s arrogance and power were both taken away. I have also heard the malaphor “took the air out of my sails”, indicating weather mix-ups are a common occurrence.
They dug their own snare
Posted: December 9, 2012 Filed under: ACTION, grave, PLACES, snare | Tags: alan simpson, blended idioms, dug their own grave, expressions, malaphors, mixed idioms, snare, today show, words Leave a commentThis conflation of “dug their own grave” and “caught in a snare” was spoken by former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson on the Today show last week, referring to Congress and the President not acting yet on the approaching fiscal cliff. Thank you to my old friend Dave Thorp for spotting this one.
That was a breath of relief!
Posted: December 8, 2012 Filed under: ACTION, breathe, THINGS | Tags: blended idioms, breath of fresh air, breathe a sigh of relief, expressions, malaphors, mixed idioms, words Leave a comment
Cover via Amazon
This apparently common mash-up (hundreds of hits on google) of “breathe a sigh of relief” and “breath of fresh air” was found in the Michigan Quarterly article referred in “Articles” on my website and also in Michael Erard’s book, “Um. . .: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean.”
Keep an ear to the grindstone
Posted: December 1, 2012 Filed under: ACTION, BODY PARTS, ear, grindstone, nose, THINGS | Tags: blended idioms, ear, expressions, grindstone, keep an ear to the ground, malaphors, mixed idioms, nose, words 4 CommentsThis one is similar to an earlier malaphor, “put your shoulder to the grindstone” (posted July 20, 2012 – see body parts in index), except it mixes “keep an ear to the ground” (devote attention to watching or listening to clues) and “keep your nose to the grindstone” (work hard and constantly). While these two idioms have different meanings, they both express diligence in an action. They also both have the word “keep” in them. Finally, adding to the confusion are the use of body parts. Body parts are a common source of confusion for some reason, particularly if they are in close proximity – in this case, ears and noses. An amusing aside – I heard this one from a supervisor who was giving me advice.
Nip that in the butt
Posted: November 29, 2012 Filed under: BODY PARTS, bud, butt | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, kick in the butt, malaphors, malaprop, mixed idioms, nip in the bud, words Leave a commentWhile this can be classified as a malaprop (inadvertent substitution of a word with a strong phonetic similarity), it can also be considered a bona fide malaphor, mixing “nip it in the bud” (put a stop to something in its early development) and “kick in the butt” (forceful encouragement). I have heard this idiom misused often by younger people, so my guess is that it is probably a phrase that has mutated from the past generation (mine) to the current one. Another example is the phrase “buck naked”, mutating to the current “butt naked”. Still another is the word “moot” to “mute”, as in “that’s a mute point”. Am I correct, or am I just turning into a grouchy old man?
A big thanks to Judge Yvonne for sending this one in.
Malaphors 
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