The Steelers have too many players that are over their hill
Posted: October 24, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 93.7 the Fan, Andrew Fillipponi, expressions, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, words Leave a commentAndrew Fillipponi on Pittsburgh sports talk radio 93.7 The Fan was talking about the Steelers defense and said there are too many players that are “over their hill”. This is a congruent conflation of “over the hill” and “past their prime”, both meaning to be too old. A shout out to John Kooser for hearing this subtle malaphor and sending it in.
The sports world is such a treasure trove of malaphors, that I have devoted my next malaphor book to them entitled “Backseat Quarterback”. It will be published soon so get ready to buy that perfect stocking stuffer!
He should have shown more fire and vinegar
Posted: January 14, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 93.7 the Fan, Andrew Fillipponi, expressions, fire and brimstone, humor, malaphor, malaphors, Mike Tomlin, piss and vinegar, wordplay, words Leave a commentAnother from sports talk radio. Andrew Fillipponi from 93.7 The Fan (a Pittsburgh sports talk radio show) was talking about Steelers coach Mike Tomlin’s lack of anger and passion at his press conference after the loss to the New Orleans Saints. It is a sweet mashup of “fire and brimstone” (intense speech filled with emotion and anger) and “piss and vinegar” (having an abundance or excessive amount of rowdiness or enthusiasm). Maybe the speaker didn’t want to say “piss” on the air, but he could then have substituted “spit” as “spit and vinegar” has the same meaning. The contributor of this nice malaphor wanted to remain anonymous so I respect his/her wishes.
Malaphors 
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