This was the headline in a Raw Story quoting a top news tech site, TechCrunch. It is a congruent conflation of “flushed down the tubes/toilet” and “down the drain/sink”, both meaning to have failed. Here is the link:
Many thanks to Tom Justice, who spotted this one and pondered poetically that the author might have been thinking of “flushing Twitter down the shitter”. Brilliant!
The contributor of this one said it, talking about the time. It was “eight thirty, plus or give 15 minutes.” This is an excellent example of a congruent conflation (blend of two idioms with the same or similar meaning), combining “plus or minus” and “give or take”, both suggesting an exact number may be below or above the estimated amount. A big thanks to curioussteph for sending this one in.
It is a mashup of “the elephant in the room” (an obvious problem that no one wants to discuss) and “under the carpet” (keep secret or hidden from view). Malaphor followers will know that for some reason elephants are involved in many malaphors. I devoted a chapter to them in my book “He Smokes Like a Fish and other Malaphors”, which is available on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0692652205
A big thanks to Will Lloyd for hearing this one and sending it in.
This one was heard on the podcast The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell on March 15. Eddie Fishman, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, was talking about the oil sanctions against Russia and that more could be done, saying “I don’t think we are firing all the bullets in our quiver.” This is a mashup of “arrows in our quiver” (options or alternatives available), “silver bullet” (a seemingly simple solution to a complicated problem) and “firing on all cylinders” (function at a peak level of performance). There is a lot of mixed weaponry in this malaphor.
Another one heard on the podcast All In with Chris Hayes. Michael Steele, subbing for Hayes, was talking to George Conway about the Trump hush money case and that the D.A. has “gotten under his (Trump’s) craw”. This is a congruent conflation of “stick in (one’s) craw” and “get under (one’s) skin”, both idioms meaning to irritate or displease someone. This malaphor can be heard at the 20:32 mark:
Remember the old detective series, Columbo, starring Peter Falk? Well, one of our devoted malaphor followers was watching a few episodes and came across this nice mashup. In Season 2, Episode 2, Columbo got a rescue dog, which he left in the car with the windows closed. When he came back to the car, a little girl berated him for not leaving the windows open a crack. Columbo said he was sorry because it was his first dog and “I haven’t gotten onto the ropes yet.” This is a congruent conflation of “I haven’t learned the ropes” and “I haven’t gotten the hang of it”, both meaning to learn how to do something correctly. “Cotton on (to something)” may also be in the mix as that idiom also means to begin to understand something. The words “hang” and “ropes” may have muddled Columbo’s head when he uttered this nice malaphor.
A tip of the hat to Barry Eigen for hearing this one and sending it in!
In the podcast, All In with Chris Hayes, journalist Josh Marshall is discussing the Dominion suit against Fox, and says that the Fox argument that only the guests were making false statements doesn’t “carry a lot of water”. This is a mashup of “carries a lot of weight” (wields importance or influence) and “holds water” (an argument that seems reasonable or in accordance with the facts). Both idioms involve arguments that are powerful and persuasive. The synonyms “carry” and “hold” undoubtedly led to the confusion. “Carry someone’s water” (to do someone’s menial or difficult tasks) is in itself an idiom, probably adding to the mix.
You can hear this malaphor at the 31:35 mark of the podcast:
On Deadline: White House, Nicole Wallace’s guest, Jeremy Peters of The NY Times, was talking about how Fox News executives and reporters deluded themselves by believing that Trump’s awful behavior on Jan. 6, 2021 meant that they were done with him. He said that they thought “We could wash our hair of this guy.” This is a nice congruent conflation of “wash (one’s) hands of (someone or something)” and “gonna wash that man right outta my hair”, both meaning to renounce or distance oneself from someone. The latter is a song lyric from the musical “South Pacific”, and is popular enough in the lexicon to qualify as an idiom.
A big thanks to “my ol’ pal”, Beatrice Zablocki, for hearing this one and sending it in.
A daughter who is in medical school was telling her father that she has been trying to focus on small details on her tests, and said “one snidbit” often gives away the answer. This is a word blend malaphor of “snippet” and “tidbit”, both meaning a small piece or extract of something. Single word blend malaphors are unconscious blends of words to make an unintentional new word. The word sounds or looks correct at first blush, but then on closer examination is incorrect. Examples on my website include “Buckminster Palace” (Buckingham and Westminster, and/or possibly Buckminster Fuller) and “split-minute decision” (split second and last minute). “Wegners” is a recent one (Wegmans and Redner’s, both grocery stores), uttered by Dr. Oz in last year’s Pennsylvania Senate race.
I do note that Urban Dictionary has this word in it but in this case it is a bona fide malaphor as it was unintentionally uttered without knowledge of the Urban Dictionary entry. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Snidbit
A big thanks to Julia Kooser for uttering this nice congruent conflation and John Kooser for sending it in!
In the romance novel Almost Home by Claire Cain, the sheriff, after arresting a stalker, says “we’ve got evidence out the nose.” The sheriff was certainly wanting to say “up/out the wazoo” (in great quantities or to a great extent), but I think he mixed “pay through the nose” here as that idiom also refers to great quantities. “On the nose” (exactly, precisely) might also be in the mashup. It is certainly a bona fide malaphor. A big thanks to Yvonne Stam for spotting this one and sending it in. clairecainwriter.com
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