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If you hear or see a malaphor, please let me know by dropping a comment on the website. Please include who said it and/or where you heard/saw it.
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Malaphors
Unintentional blended idioms and phrases – It's the cream of the cake!
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The Malaphor King
"Don't rock the trough"
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Thanks. I put it in my cart.
I have a co-worker that inadvertently drops these on a daily basis. I don’t work closely with him anymore, but I used to keep a list.
My all time favorite: “It depends on what color your rose-colored glasses are.”
Nice, but not sure it’s a malaphor. Rose-colored glasses and ?
Dear Dave, Please figure this out for me. (It’s from a Washington Post piece on diversity in super hero movies.) Here’s the context paragraph: “What we heard was that people didn’t want any more diversity. They didn’t want female characters out there,” Gabriel said at the Marvel Retailer Summit, according to Entertainment Weekly. “We saw the sales of any character that was diverse, any character that was new, our female characters, anything that was not a core Marvel character, people were turning their nose up against. That was difficult for us because we had a lot of fresh, new, exciting ideas that we were trying to get out and nothing new really worked.”
The mala-something: “… people were turning their nose up against.”
(I don’t even want to start on why the speaker thinks ‘diversity’ refers specifically and, apparently, exclusively, to women!)
Seems like a variant of “turning up (one’s) nose”? I posted a malaphor on this phrase awhile back – “turning down their noses” – https://malaphors.com/2013/01/18/and-then-everyone-wonders-why-europeans-turn-down-their-noses-at-americans/
I just saw one in the Washington Post, in shortened form: “Trump’s window is sinking.” A mashup of “window of opportunity is closing” and “ship is sinking” or “heart is sinking”? Anyhow, a sinking window is not a good thing. Here’s the full quote:
“THE HONEYMOON IS OVER:
“– Trump’s window to score early legislative victories is sinking as Congress’s summer recess nears — giving the president just two months to revive his health-care and tax efforts before lawmakers depart Capitol Hill for a long break.”
Here’s the source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/05/31/daily-202-the-gop-s-invisible-agenda/592d9df4e9b69b2fb981dbf8/?utm_term=.e07bf7d92b04
“He left with his head between his tail”
Said by a colleague – Kelly “Kallina” Penny a.k.a MoneyPenny – from Melbourne, Australia. We have a shit ton of these, she is a fountain of malaphors, apparently this is due to her super large brain working too quickly for her mouth to keep up. But we all think she’s just a bit thick.
I posted that one a couple of years ago – https://malaphors.com/2015/06/27/his-head-between-his-tail/ But keep ’em coming Gilesy!
A malaphor that I accidently created myself is “all hands off,” a combination of “all bets off” and “hands down.”
Nice! Will post! What name should i give to give you props in the blog?
My co-worker just said, “I may be speaking out of tongue, but…”
So, mixing “speaking out of turn” with “speaking in tongues” is what I think we’ve mixed here..
Love that she drops these occasionally, love that I found this site to share. Keep it up!
Thanks Phillip! That’s a beauty and will post soon!
Hi! I was writing an email to my favourite teacher, and this one popped into my head: ‘Getting on like a car on fire’! 🙂 I really hope this one will be shared!
Malaphors are an incredible use of the English language, and I’m so, so, so, SO happy that a lovely friend of mine shared this wonderful place, filled with innovation, creativity, passion, dedication, collaboration, and love for the English language! ❤
I was writing an email to my favourite teacher, and this one popped into my head: ‘Getting on like a car on fire’! 🙂 I really hope this one will be shared!
Malaphors are an incredible use of the English language, and I’m so, so, so, SO happy that a lovely friend of mine shared this wonderful place, filled with innovation, creativity, passion, dedication, joy, collaboration, and love for the English language (just like her)! ❤
Hilarious, but not sure of the mix. House on fire and ?
I thought it was to do with ‘driving at full-speed, stemming from the phrase: ‘to wrap one’s car around something’…
Just discovered your website and I’m so excited. My friends and I have been cracking up about these things for years, not knowing there were other people out there who thought these were hilarious too. I discovered your website when my coworker had said “locked in stone”, and I realized you had posted it previously.
My coworkers are great at unintentionally saying these things. Here are some of my recent favorites:
“We’re falling behind the 8 curve” = “Behind the 8 ball” and “throwing a curve ball”?
“Preaching from the top of the choir” = “Preaching to the choir” and ???
“I’m just reaching for straws here” = “Grasping at straws” + I think “reaching for the stars”
“He pulled some strings out of his hat” = “Pulled some strings” + “pulling a rabbit out of a hat”
Love the imagery on the last one. Feel free to repost or quietly chuckle to yourself! Thanks!
I don’t know if this qualifies as a malaphor because you have to read it. In speechit sounds OK – in fact that’s probably why it occurred. I was reading a paper a friend of mine had written about sea levels rising due to global warming and in discussing its effect on the country of Maldives, she had written, “… but with the nation itself standing just a hare’s breath above sea level …”. (By the way, I would assume that hares have pretty good breath, considering all the chlorophyll they must eat).
I don’t think it’s a malaphor (just misspelling of hair’s breadth) but very funny! Maybe an eggcorn?
just heard one today “It’s all water in the bucket”. When I asked the speaker the meaning of the phrase he said it was “similar to the idea conveyed by the phrase “Every penny adds up””, however, it appears to be a malaphor of “It’s all water under the bridge” and “It’s a drop in the bucket”
Another variation for your “can of worms/kettle of fish” section? “This is a whole other can if worms.” The source is an article today in Daily Kos. https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2017/7/30/1685501/-WikiLeaks-Officially-in-the-bag-for-Trump?detail=emaildkre
I have a friend who told me that his grandfather’s favorite saying was
“You can catch more flies with honey than a stick”
Hi Dave,
One of my clients said this one yesterday: “There’s two coins to every story.” A mash up of 2 sides to every story and 2 sides of the same coin. The sides got left out, coining a new story!
Some time years ago I had the idea to mix together “cut it out” and “knock it off” to “cut it off,” just for the humor value, and I still say it sometimes today.
Was talking to a friend on facebook and we were talking about meeting new people when moving to university, as I’m heading there this year, and a different friend of mine is already moving in. She mentioned about “breaking the air” which I guess was a subconcious mashing of “clearing the air” and “breaking the ice”! 🙂
Stephen Bannon in his recent interview with Charlie Rose: “They [Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan] do not want Donald Trump’s populist, economic nationalistic agenda to be implemented. It’s obvious as night follows day.” A blend of “as clear as day” and “sure as night follows day”?
Paul, I don’t think this is a malaphor. Obvious is just used in place of sure, I think. Internet posts also seem to say this is a proper phrase. Dave
My ex once gave me a piece of advice: ‘don’t count your eggs before you put the basket down’. I assume he was getting confused between ‘don’t count your eggs before they hatch’ and ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket’ but I enjoyed his rationalisation – some eggs may fall out or break as you’re putting the basket down!
Excellent one, Zozie. I have a few variations on that theme on the website. Just search “eggs” or “basket”. Will post this gem soon! Thanks.
Two for you:
From a student’s comments on the readings in my class: “It’s very mind bottling that …”
I’m sure that it’s not a typo, because she wrote it on two different sets of comments. Told her that she might better use the mysterious word “boggling”, in hopes that she would not embarrass herself with it elsewhere.
August/September 2017
From a long time ago (1987): A housemate in Iowa City informed me that she felt as though she was “walking on eggs and needles” when I was around. I could never get that out of my head, imagining how hard it would be to avoid the needles when they were immersed in pools of uncooked eggs. Shortly thereafter, said roommate tossed a smoldering cigarette butt into a wastebasket before going to work one day, and burned the house down. So, I never got to hear any more gems, and she didn’t have to be walking on eggs and needles any longer.
Stanley,
Excellent post. Mind bottling is I think a malaprop rather than a malaphor, with the word mix bottling for boggling. However, walking on eggs and needles is an excellent malaphor which I will post. Reminds me of a previous posting about anxious employees: “they were sitting on their hands and needles”. Dave
“It’s got everything under the book!”
I unfortunately can’t remember what exactly my friend was talking about, as it was several weeks ago, and I’d’ve posted this sooner but for the life of me I couldn’t remember the name of this site! All I remember is that we were at an amusement park, and all I can assume is that I’d asked what all sorts of rides and other things the park had to offer. anyways, it was curious and memorable enough to stick in my head this long, and I thought I’d share it with you!
Just seen this on Facebook in a post from my friend Jennifer
“Good grief… ask someone a simple question and they jump down your ass on Facebook. Just asked if they read article cause I got virus when I opened article.. … Some people need manners!”
Clearly a malaphor of “jumping down my throat” (sudden angry outburst) and “get off my ass” (nagging, harassing, badgering)
“Trial by error”
My girlfriend said this to me just a minute ago, and I had to stop and tell her “I need to send this to a site hold on”, and she was really confused. Anyways, as is obvious this is somewhere in between “Trial and error” and “Trial by fire”. I thought it was really interesting and funny, and I wanted to share.