We’re in a f***ing stagmire
Posted: August 22, 2013 Filed under: WORD BLENDS | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, humor, language, Long Term Parking, malaphors, mixed idioms, portmanteau, quagmire, Sopranos, stagnant, words Leave a comment
Long Term Parking (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This is a word blend malaphor (see my discussion of word blends in the 2/2/13 post, Portmanteaus and Single Word Malaphors) of quagmire and stagnant. This now famous malaphor was spoken by Little Carmine in perhaps the best episode of The Sopranos – Season 5’s Long Term Parking episode. Little Carmine is a fountain of malaprops and malaphors, making him one of the more humorous characters in the series.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=stagmire
It was so cold my lips were chattering
Posted: August 21, 2013 Filed under: BODY PARTS, lips, tooth | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, humor, language, lips are blue, malaphors, mixed idioms, teeth are chattering, words 1 CommentAnd my teeth were blue? This is a wacky mixture of “teeth are chattering” and “lips are blue”, both describing being extremely cold. A big thank you to Steve Grieme for hearing this one from his son on a recent family vacation and sending it to Malaphor Central!
You’re not in the microscope as much
Posted: August 20, 2013 Filed under: microscope | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, humor, in the spotlight, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, Penn State, Pennsylvania State University, under the microscope, words Leave a commentThis is a humorous blend of “under the microscope” and “in the spotlight”, both meaning to be the center of attention and examined closely. The sports world strikes again with its treasure trove of malaphors. One of the Penn State quarterbacks transferred to a smaller school, Robert Morris, and had this to say:
“I really don’t think it’s been that big of an adjustment for me, going from Division I-A to I-AA, but it is different being here,” Jones said last week before a Robert Morris spring practice. “It’s a much smaller school than Penn State. You’re not in the microscope as much.”
http://www.centredaily.com/2013/04/14/3578671/ron-musselman-former-penn-state.html
Thanks to Justin Taylor for spotting this subtle gem.
Off the cuff of my head
Posted: August 19, 2013 Filed under: BODY PARTS, cuff, head | Tags: African National Congress, blended idioms, congruent conflations, expressions, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, off the cuff, off the top of my head, South Africa, words Leave a commentThis is a congruent conflation of “off the top of my head” and “off the cuff”, both expressions meaning to speak without much thought or preparation. It is similar to the 9/16/12 post “he said it off the top of his cuff”. This malaphor came all the way from South Africa. An African National Congress (ANC) spokesperson during a radio interview, in avoiding difficult questions, responded with the opener: “Well, off the cuff of my head . . .” A shout out to Allan Muir for sending this one in!
We keep our eyes to the ground
Posted: August 13, 2013 Filed under: BODY PARTS, ear, eye, ground | Tags: blended idioms, Business, ear to the ground, expressioins, humor, keep your eyes open, keep your eyes peeled, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, words Leave a commentThis is a mix of “keep an ear to the ground” (alert and listening for clues) and “keep your eyes wide open (or peeled)” (vigilant and watchful). This subtle conflation was heard on Bloomberg news:
Question from interviewer: how do you have such success picking funds?
Ans: we keep our eyes to the ground.
The speaker quickly corrected himself and said: “We keep our ears to the ground and look ahead.” Self caught malaphor. Nice. A big thank you to John Costello for hearing this one.
That’s a horse of a different story
Posted: August 12, 2013 Filed under: ANIMALS, horse | Tags: another story, blended idioms, expressions, horse of a different color, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, words Leave a commentThis is a blend of “a horse of a different color” (an entirely different matter) and “that’s another (or different) story” (an explanation to give at some other time). A big thanks to Robyn Pietrucha who heard this malaphor spoken in the 1934 comedy short, “The Chases of Pimple Street”, starring Charley Chase. The movie is a spoof of the 1934 classic, “The Barretts of Wimpole Street”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charley_Chase
I had a sneaking hunch
Posted: August 9, 2013 Filed under: hunch | Tags: blended idioms, Chordettes, conflation, congruent conflation, Dick Clark, have a hunch, have a sneaking suspicion, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, television, words 2 Comments
Publicity photo of American Bandstand host Dick Clark. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This congruent conflation mixes “I had a sneaking suspicion” and “I had a hunch”, both meaning to have a feeling or premonition. This beauty was found by Laszlo Veres on a You Tube video of an old Dick Clark Bandstand show. Dick was interviewing the Chordettes (Lollipop) and you can hear the malaphor at 3:21 of the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fty3Nzc-oiY
I think that’s the pink elephant in the room
Posted: August 7, 2013 Filed under: elephant, pink | Tags: alex rodriguez, blended idioms, elephant, elephant in the room, espn, expressions, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, new york yankees, pink elephants, words 1 CommentThis masterpiece is a mash up of “elephant in the room” (obvious problem no one wants to discuss) and “seeing pink elephants” (recovering from an alcoholic bout). It is particularly interesting as it was uttered by Alex Rodriguez, baseball player for the New York Yankees:
Rodriguez, who admitted to taking steroids from 2001-2003 with the Texas Rangers, said he supported baseball’s efforts to rid the game of performance-enhancing drugs. But he seemed to question the Yankees’ alleged attempts to keep him from returning to the team.
“I think that’s the pink elephant in the room,” Rodriguez said. “I think we all agree that we want to get rid of PEDs. That’s a must. I think all the players feel that way. But when all the stuff is going on in the background and people are finding creative ways to cancel your contract, I think that’s concerning for me. It’s concerning for present [players] and it should be concerning for future players as well. There is a process. I’m excited about the way I feel tonight and I’m going to keep fighting.”
Read A-Rod hopes for return to Yankees on Monday on ESPN.com
This beauty was caught by John Costello. Kudos to John for a timely (and Freudian slip?) malaphor. See also entries “the white elephant in the room” (Sept 6, 2012), “the 800 pound gorilla in the room” (Nov 15, 2012), and “memory like a hawk” (Nov 17, 2012). Elephant malaphors apparently come in all shapes and colors.
we still have a lot of hurdles to jump through
Posted: August 5, 2013 Filed under: hoops, hurdles, jump | Tags: blended idioms, clear a hurdle, expressions, humor, jump through hoops, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, words 1 CommentThis is a wonderful mix of “jump through hoops” (do everything possible to please or obey someone) and “clear a hurdle” (overcome an obstacle). The confusion lies with hoops and hurdles, things you jump through and jump over. It was caught by Deb Rose as she was listening to NPR. The speaker was talking about legalizing marijuana, the possible business opportunities it might inspire, and the logistics of making that happen. He said, “we still have a lot of hurdles to jump through.” Yeah right. ‘Nuff said.
Keep your eyes on the tiger
Posted: August 4, 2013 Filed under: eye, tiger | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, eye of the tiger, eyes on the prize, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, words Leave a commentThis is a blend of “eyes on the prize” and “eye of the tiger”. I heard this tonight in the Sopranos episode “Sentimental Education” (Season five, Episode six). The writing in the Sopranos is rich with wordplay. I have posted several malaphors heard on the Sopranos series.
Malaphors 
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