It’s locked in stone
Posted: May 20, 2013 Filed under: lock, stone | Tags: blended idioms, carved in stone, expressions, humor, language, lock, malaphors, mixed idioms, stone, words Leave a commentThis is a mash up of “locked in” and “written (or carved) in stone”, both meaning something permanent or not subject to change.
He really sold him under the bus
Posted: May 16, 2013 Filed under: bus, river | Tags: blended idioms, bus, expressions, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, river, sold him up the river, threw him under the bus, words 1 CommentHave I found the new “master”? Actress Cristin Milioti said the following to People magazine:
“The other day I was chatting with my boyfriend,” she told Theater Mania, “and I said to him, ‘He really sold him under the bus.’ And he said, ‘I think you meant “threw him under the bus,” or “sold him up the river.” ‘ … It’s a constant problem. On my first date, my boyfriend asked me if I wanted to eat a la carte, and I said that I would prefer to stay inside! It’s really embarrassing.”
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20700130,00.html?xid=rss-fullcontent
Cristin, do NOT be embarrassed by this wonderful gift you have received. On the contrary, continue to utter your wonderful malaphors so I can share them with the world. “To err is human; to malaphor, divine.”
Look who’s calling the kettle black
Posted: May 13, 2013 Filed under: black, kettle | Tags: black, blended idioms, congruent conflation, expressions, humor, kettle, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, pot, talk, words Leave a commentThis is a congruent conflation of “look who’s talking” and “that’s the pot calling the kettle black”, both referring to pointing out hypocritical behavior. The best and most common malaphors are mixtures of phrases that have the same or similar meaning.
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’).
The guy’s a real slimebag
Posted: May 6, 2013 Filed under: WORD BLENDS | Tags: blended idioms, douchebag, expressions, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, scumbag, slimeball, word blend, words Leave a commentThis is a word blend malaphor of “slimeball” and “scumbag”, or possibly “douchebag”, all describing a not very nice person. Confusion is added by the similar sound ing words slime and scum, and bag and ball. Check out my category entitled “wordblends” for more word malaphors.
She has flown off the deep end
Posted: May 3, 2013 Filed under: deep end, fly | Tags: Amanda Bynes, blended idioms, fly off the handle, gone off the deep end, Huffington Post, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, words Leave a commentThis malaphor was found by Bob Ferrante as he was reading the Huffington Post. It is a mash up of “gone off the deep end” and “fly off the handle”, both meaning to get extremely angry or crazy. The blended idiom comes from a discussion about the actress Amanda Bynes:
“In case we needed any further proof that Amanda Bynes has flown off the deep end, here’s her latest outlandish Twitter remark…”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/28/amanda-bynes-twitter_n_2970924.html
They aren’t clicking on all cylinders
Posted: May 1, 2013 Filed under: clicking, cylinders | Tags: blended idioms, click, cylinders, firing on all cylinders, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, Pittsburgh Pirates, words 1 Comment
English: Pittsburgh Pirates cap insignia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
An announcer from the Pittsburgh Pirates pre-game show last night (4/30/13) said that while the
Pirates are doing well, “they aren’t clicking on all cylinders yet”. This is a mash-up of “firing (or hitting) on all cylinders” (working at full strength) and “clicking with (someone)” (understood by someone suddenly). A malaphor salute to Mitchell Hoyson for sending this one in!
I don’t know him from a hole in the wall
Posted: April 30, 2013 Filed under: hole, wall | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, hole, hole in the ground, hole in the wall, humor, language, malaphors, Marilyn Milian, mixed idioms, People's Court, wall, words Leave a comment
The People’s Court (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This is a mash up of “a hole in the wall” (obscure place) and “I wouldn’t know him from a hole in the ground” (obscure person). Also in the mix has to be “doesn’t know him from Adam” and “he doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground”, as well as the visual of punching holes in the wall. This blended idiom comes to us compliments of Barry Eigen, who heard it on yesterday’s (4/29/13) episode of The People’s Court, uttered by “Judge” Marilyn Milian.
We aren’t going to throw in the white flag
Posted: April 28, 2013 Filed under: flag, throw, towel | Tags: blended idioms, Dwight Howard, expressions, flag, humor, language, Los Angeles Lakers, malaphors, mixed idioms, surrender, throw in the twoel, towel, wave the white flag, words Leave a comment
Dwight Howard (Photo credit: Keith Allison)
Commenting on the Lakers’ ability to play in the series when so many
players were injured, Los Angeles Laker Dwight Howard remarked that the players were
not about “to throw in the white flag.” Thanks to “My ol’ pal” who heard this gem on the 5:00 pm local L.A. news. It is a mash up of “throw in the towel” and “wave the white flag”, both meaning to surrender. Perhaps a white towel (a common sight with athletes) was also in the confusion.
It’s been a long road to hoe
Posted: April 25, 2013 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blended idioms, hoe, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, road, row, tough row to hoe 1 CommentThis is a mash up of “tough row to hoe” and “long road”, both meaning long, difficult situations. Row and road sound similar, adding to the confusion. I saw this one in today’s morning Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
“I’m very happy. It’s been a long road to hoe,” Mr. Berry, the project architect, said as he took photographs of the mostly finished product and checked for any problems that needed to be fixed.
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