I finally got the monkey off my shoulders

Posted: June 3, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: back, monkey, shoulders | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment
The former logo of Mike and Mike in the Mornin...

The former logo of Mike and Mike in the Morning until May 4, 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is a mash up of “monkey off my back” and “a weight off my shoulders”, both meaning to get rid of a big problem.  Kudos to Mike Browning who heard this gem on the Mike & Mike talk show last week.   Tony Kanaan was talking about finally
winning the Indy 500, and said that the victory finally got “the monkey
off my shoulders.”  Malaphors occur frequently when there are two similar meaning idioms referring to body parts, particularly in close proximity.

You wash my back; I’ll wash yours.

Posted: August 17, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: ACTION, BODY PARTS | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

This is again a mash up of “one hand washing the other” and “you scratch my back; I’ll scratch yours” (see yesterday’s malaphor post).  These  two malaphors were both spoken by “the Master”, so why would he mix them both in different ways?  My guess is that he may have been thinking in this one of “watching your back” (looking out for another) since “watch” and “wash” are similar sounding words (“the master” did tend to slur words, especially after a long lunch).   Again, it is difficult to step into such a complex mind so I can only speculate.