I was pounding the bushes
Posted: November 10, 2014 Filed under: pavement, pound | Tags: beat the bushes, congruent conflation, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, mixed idioms, Our Mechanical Brain, pound the pavement, words Leave a commentThis is a wonderful congruent conflation of “beating the bushes” and “pounding the pavement”, both meaning to try very hard to achieve something. As the speaker said, “you’d think the alliteration would help me keep them straight”. I was actually pounding my bushes this weekend trying to dislodge all the leaves that had dropped on them. A big thanks to Peter from the blog “Our Mechanical Brain” for producing this great malaphor and passing it on! Check his blog out at Our Mechanical Brain
You still need boots on the pavement to gather the facts
Posted: July 7, 2013 Filed under: boots, pavement | Tags: blended idioms, boots, boots on the ground, expressions, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, pavement, pounding the pavement, words Leave a commentThis malaphor was uttered by Carl Hiassen while being interviewed on Orlando’s local public radio station, WMFE. He was referring to the fact that even though many persons are now getting their news information from the internet instead of print newspapers, “you still need boots on the pavement to gather the facts.” This is a nice mash of “boots on the ground” (troops in place) and “pounding the pavement”.(walking the streets, particularly in looking for employment). A big thanks to Tom Justice for hearing this one!
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