He rubbed his face in the wound
Posted: October 1, 2013 Filed under: ACTION, rub, salt, wound | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, rub salt in the wound, rub your nose in it, words Leave a commentThis beauty is a mash up of “rubbed salt in the wound” (make someone feel worse about something) and “rubbed his nose in it” (remind someone of something one has done wrong). Perhaps the speaker was reminding someone of a mistake and bragging about it at the same time. Or maybe this is a new form of medical treatment? A big thank you to Ed Brady for hearing and sending this one in.
You sowed your own poison, man!
Posted: September 12, 2013 Filed under: poison, sow | Tags: as you sow so shall you reap, blended idioms, expressions, humor, James Franco, language, made you rown bed, malaphors, mixed idioms, pick your poison, Pineapple Express, Seth Rogen, words 2 Comments
Cover via Amazon
This mix up comes from the movie Pineapple Express, spoken by James Franco’s character, Saul. It is a mash up of several idioms, I think, including “you made your bed, now lie in it” (bad outcome is based on your actions), “pick your poison” (must choose between equally bad things), and “as you sow, so shall you reap” (outcomes are based on how you behave). A shout out to Basil D’Costa for sending this beauty in!
Please stop and smell the daisies
Posted: August 30, 2013 Filed under: daisies, roses, THINGS | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, flowers, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, pushing up daisies, stop and smell the roses, words Leave a comment
Daisies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I saw this malaphor in today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and had to post it right away. It is a mash up of “stop and smell the roses” (pause and enjoy life) and “pushing up daisies” (dead). “Wake up and smell the coffee” may also be in the mix. Not sure if daisies really have any smell, but I don’t really want to push any of them up anytime soon.
I have too many fires on the plate
Posted: August 26, 2013 Filed under: ball, fire, irons, THINGS | Tags: blended idioms, humor, irons in the fire, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, plate is full, words Leave a commentThis is a mash up of “too many irons in the fire” (many things happening at once) and “my plate is full” (working at capacity on many things). It is similar to previous malaphors (“lot of irons in the pipeline” – 12/13/12 – “lot of balls in the fire” – 7/17/13), all referring to many things happening at the same time. Perhaps that is what the mind does with expressions: juggling a million in the brain and two similar ones spit out. A big thank you to David Spain for overhearing this one.
You’re not in the microscope as much
Posted: August 20, 2013 Filed under: microscope | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, humor, in the spotlight, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, Penn State, Pennsylvania State University, under the microscope, words Leave a commentThis is a humorous blend of “under the microscope” and “in the spotlight”, both meaning to be the center of attention and examined closely. The sports world strikes again with its treasure trove of malaphors. One of the Penn State quarterbacks transferred to a smaller school, Robert Morris, and had this to say:
“I really don’t think it’s been that big of an adjustment for me, going from Division I-A to I-AA, but it is different being here,” Jones said last week before a Robert Morris spring practice. “It’s a much smaller school than Penn State. You’re not in the microscope as much.”
http://www.centredaily.com/2013/04/14/3578671/ron-musselman-former-penn-state.html
Thanks to Justin Taylor for spotting this subtle gem.
I had a sneaking hunch
Posted: August 9, 2013 Filed under: hunch | Tags: blended idioms, Chordettes, conflation, congruent conflation, Dick Clark, have a hunch, have a sneaking suspicion, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, television, words 2 Comments
Publicity photo of American Bandstand host Dick Clark. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This congruent conflation mixes “I had a sneaking suspicion” and “I had a hunch”, both meaning to have a feeling or premonition. This beauty was found by Laszlo Veres on a You Tube video of an old Dick Clark Bandstand show. Dick was interviewing the Chordettes (Lollipop) and you can hear the malaphor at 3:21 of the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fty3Nzc-oiY
we still have a lot of hurdles to jump through
Posted: August 5, 2013 Filed under: hoops, hurdles, jump | Tags: blended idioms, clear a hurdle, expressions, humor, jump through hoops, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, words 1 CommentThis is a wonderful mix of “jump through hoops” (do everything possible to please or obey someone) and “clear a hurdle” (overcome an obstacle). The confusion lies with hoops and hurdles, things you jump through and jump over. It was caught by Deb Rose as she was listening to NPR. The speaker was talking about legalizing marijuana, the possible business opportunities it might inspire, and the logistics of making that happen. He said, “we still have a lot of hurdles to jump through.” Yeah right. ‘Nuff said.
I’ve opened up a can of beans
Posted: July 31, 2013 Filed under: bean, can | Tags: beans, blended idioms, can of worms, expressions, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, spill the beans, words, worms 1 CommentThis is a mash up of “”can of worms” and “spill the beans”. Of course, by itself it could be meant literally as opening a can of beans, but in the context the speaker meant to say “I’ve opened up a can of worms”. This malaphor is similar to a previous malaphor post – “That’s a real ball of worms” (12/18/12), mixing “can of worms” with “ball of wax”. Thanks to Denita for sending this one in!
I have a lot of balls in the fire
Posted: July 17, 2013 Filed under: ball, fire, irons, THINGS | Tags: air, balls, balls in the air, blended idioms, expressions, fire, humor, irons, irons in the fire, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, words Leave a commentOuch! This is a mix up of “irons in the fire” (a number of jobs or possibilities at the same time) and “balls in the air” (many things happening at once). A big thanks to Martin Pietrucha for sending this one in.
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