Don’t beat a horse while it’s down
Posted: October 31, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: beat a dead horse, expressions, horse, humor, kick him while he's down, malaphor, words 2 CommentsIn the seemingly never ending mashups of idioms involving the word “horse”, I give you this latest one, uttered by my grandnephew Nathan Hatfield. His Dad was asking him about a project he was working on. It is a mashup of “Kick (one) when (one) is down” (to criticize someone wh has already suffered a setback) and “beat a dead horse” (to continue to focus or talk about something). Idioms that include the word “horse” are for some reason continually mixed up. See my website and type in “horse”. You will be amazed. A big thanks to John Hatfield III for hearing this one and passing it on!
You know how to beat a dead horse in the mouth
Posted: October 15, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: beat a dead horse, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, expressions, humor, idioms, malaphor, words Leave a commentAnother horse malaphor. This one is a mashup of “beat a dead horse” (to continue to focus or talk about something) and I think “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” (if you receive a gift, accept it graciously). “Horse” is the common denominator here. “Shoot off (one’s) mouth” or “diarrhea of the mouth” could also be in the mix, both meaing to be an excessive talker. That fits with “beat a dead horse”.
By the way, idioms that include the word “horse” are for some reason continually mixed up. See my website and type in “horse”. You will be amazed. A big thanks to Thomas Smith for sending this one in.
You can beat a dead horse to water, but you can’t make it drink
Posted: May 31, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: beat a dead horse, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, words, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink Leave a commentThis is another in a series of “Maraphors”, a punny term coined by Ray Johnston describing malaphors involving horses, which it turns out is quite a few (type in horse in the search field on the website and you will see). This nice mash up of “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink” (even favorable circumstances won’t force someone to do something one doesn’t want to) and “beating a dead horse” (a particular request is already resolved and any attempt to continue is futile) was uttered by mistake by malaphor follower azrielle. Thanks Azrielle for passing this one along!
Regarding the expression “beating a dead horse”, the first recorded use with its modern meaning is by British politician and orator John Bright, referring to the Reform Act of 1867, which called for more democratic representation in Parliament, an issue about which Parliament was singularly apathetic. Trying to rouse Parliament from its apathy on the issue, he said in a speech, would be like trying to flog a dead horse to make it pull a load.
Not to beat this horse into the ground, but….
Posted: May 6, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: beat a dead horse, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, run into the ground, words 1 Comment
You can’t beat that with a dead horse
Posted: March 23, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: beat a dead horse, can't beat that, can't beat that with a stick, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, words 2 CommentsConference calls are goldmines for malaphors. This amusing ditty was heard on a conference call and Greg, a faithful malaphor follower, spotted it immediately. I’m not sure what “that” is, but it more than likely can’t be beaten with a dead horse. This is a mash up of “beat a dead horse” (waste time doing something that has already been attempted), “can’t beat (or top) that” (no one can do better than that) and the extension of the latter, “you can’t beat that with a stick” (no one can do better than that). A stick might be used to prod a horse so the speaker might have had a vision of using a stick to flog or beat a dead horse.
Not to beat a broken record, but….
Posted: June 5, 2013 Filed under: beat, horse, record | Tags: beat a dead horse, blended idioms, broken record, conflations, horse, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, record, words Leave a commentThis is a conflation of “beat a dead horse” and “sound like a broken record’, both meaning to do or say the same thing over and over again. The best malaphors are the ones mixing similar meaning phrases, and this is a good example. Kudos to Kevin Hatfield for uttering this unintentional masterpiece, and to Justin Taylor for recognizing it.
I don’t want to reinvent the horse
Posted: February 11, 2013 Filed under: ANIMALS, horse, THINGS, wheel | Tags: beat a dead horse, blended idioms, expressions, horse, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, reinvent the wheel, wheel, words 1 CommentThis malaphor is a mash up of “reinvent the wheel” (make unnecessary preparations) and “beat a dead horse” (waste time trying to do something that will not succeed), both involving wasted time. A big shout out to Cecily for providing this beauty.
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