Look who’s calling the kettle black
Posted: May 13, 2013 Filed under: black, kettle | Tags: black, blended idioms, congruent conflation, expressions, humor, kettle, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, pot, talk, words Leave a commentThis is a congruent conflation of “look who’s talking” and “that’s the pot calling the kettle black”, both referring to pointing out hypocritical behavior. The best and most common malaphors are mixtures of phrases that have the same or similar meaning.
You’ve got a chip up your ass
Posted: May 9, 2013 Filed under: ass, chip, stick | Tags: blended idioms, chip, chip on your shoulder, expressions, malaphors, mixed idioms, stick, stick up your ass, words 1 CommentI won’t reveal the source, but this is a mash up of “you’ve got a chip on your shoulder” (bad attitude) and “you’ve got a stick up your ass” (up tight). It also could describe the aftermath of gorging on a bag of Cape Cod potato chips in your underwear (never done that, just sayin’).
The guy’s a real slimebag
Posted: May 6, 2013 Filed under: WORD BLENDS | Tags: blended idioms, douchebag, expressions, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, scumbag, slimeball, word blend, words Leave a commentThis is a word blend malaphor of “slimeball” and “scumbag”, or possibly “douchebag”, all describing a not very nice person. Confusion is added by the similar sound ing words slime and scum, and bag and ball. Check out my category entitled “wordblends” for more word malaphors.
She has flown off the deep end
Posted: May 3, 2013 Filed under: deep end, fly | Tags: Amanda Bynes, blended idioms, fly off the handle, gone off the deep end, Huffington Post, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, words Leave a commentThis malaphor was found by Bob Ferrante as he was reading the Huffington Post. It is a mash up of “gone off the deep end” and “fly off the handle”, both meaning to get extremely angry or crazy. The blended idiom comes from a discussion about the actress Amanda Bynes:
“In case we needed any further proof that Amanda Bynes has flown off the deep end, here’s her latest outlandish Twitter remark…”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/28/amanda-bynes-twitter_n_2970924.html
They aren’t clicking on all cylinders
Posted: May 1, 2013 Filed under: clicking, cylinders | Tags: blended idioms, click, cylinders, firing on all cylinders, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, Pittsburgh Pirates, words 1 Comment
English: Pittsburgh Pirates cap insignia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
An announcer from the Pittsburgh Pirates pre-game show last night (4/30/13) said that while the
Pirates are doing well, “they aren’t clicking on all cylinders yet”. This is a mash-up of “firing (or hitting) on all cylinders” (working at full strength) and “clicking with (someone)” (understood by someone suddenly). A malaphor salute to Mitchell Hoyson for sending this one in!
I don’t know him from a hole in the wall
Posted: April 30, 2013 Filed under: hole, wall | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, hole, hole in the ground, hole in the wall, humor, language, malaphors, Marilyn Milian, mixed idioms, People's Court, wall, words Leave a comment
The People’s Court (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This is a mash up of “a hole in the wall” (obscure place) and “I wouldn’t know him from a hole in the ground” (obscure person). Also in the mix has to be “doesn’t know him from Adam” and “he doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground”, as well as the visual of punching holes in the wall. This blended idiom comes to us compliments of Barry Eigen, who heard it on yesterday’s (4/29/13) episode of The People’s Court, uttered by “Judge” Marilyn Milian.
We aren’t going to throw in the white flag
Posted: April 28, 2013 Filed under: flag, throw, towel | Tags: blended idioms, Dwight Howard, expressions, flag, humor, language, Los Angeles Lakers, malaphors, mixed idioms, surrender, throw in the twoel, towel, wave the white flag, words Leave a comment
Dwight Howard (Photo credit: Keith Allison)
Commenting on the Lakers’ ability to play in the series when so many
players were injured, Los Angeles Laker Dwight Howard remarked that the players were
not about “to throw in the white flag.” Thanks to “My ol’ pal” who heard this gem on the 5:00 pm local L.A. news. It is a mash up of “throw in the towel” and “wave the white flag”, both meaning to surrender. Perhaps a white towel (a common sight with athletes) was also in the confusion.
It’s been a long road to hoe
Posted: April 25, 2013 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blended idioms, hoe, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, road, row, tough row to hoe 1 CommentThis is a mash up of “tough row to hoe” and “long road”, both meaning long, difficult situations. Row and road sound similar, adding to the confusion. I saw this one in today’s morning Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
“I’m very happy. It’s been a long road to hoe,” Mr. Berry, the project architect, said as he took photographs of the mostly finished product and checked for any problems that needed to be fixed.
I just wanted to get it out of my chest
Posted: April 24, 2013 Filed under: chest | Tags: blended idioms, Boston Red Sox, chest, congruent conflation, david ortiz, expressions, get it off my chest, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, out of my system, words Leave a comment
English: David Ortiz Boston Red Sox player. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This congruent conflation mixes “get it out of my system” and “get it off my chest”, both meaning to unburden oneself. This was spoken by Boston Red Sox player David Ortiz‘ in response to his emotional pregame speech:
don’t think there was one human being who wasn’t affected by what we got
going on down here,” Ortiz said. “This past week, I was very emotional,
very angry about the whole situation. I had to get that out of my chest
and just make sure that our fans and everybody in the nation knows that
this is a great nation, and part of it was how everybody supported each
other when this thing went down. I’m happy to be a part of this
nation.”
Read more at: http://nesn.com/2013/04/david-ortiz-says-f-word-during-speech-just-came-out-feels-like-boston-should-be-pumped/
don’t think there was one human being who wasn’t affected by what we got
going on down here,” Ortiz said. “This past week, I was very emotional,
very angry about the whole situation. I had to get that out of my chest
and just make sure that our fans and everybody in the nation knows that
this is a great nation, and part of it was how everybody supported each
other when this thing went down. I’m happy to be a part of this
nation.”
Read more at: http://nesn.com/2013/04/david-ortiz-says-f-word-during-speech-just-came-out-feels-like-boston-should-be-pumped/
don’t think there was one human being who wasn’t affected by what we got
going on down here,” Ortiz said. “This past week, I was very emotional,
very angry about the whole situation. I had to get that out of my chest
and just make sure that our fans and everybody in the nation knows that
this is a great nation, and part of it was how everybody supported each
other when this thing went down. I’m happy to be a part of this
nation.”
Well put, Papi. Isn’t it great to have him back?
Have a question for Ricky Doyle? Send it to him via Twitter at
@TheRickyDoyle or send it here.
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In the News
NESN Team
Dale Arnold
John Beattie
Andy Brickley
Alison Bullock
Tom Caron
Mike Cole
Zack Cox
Jamison Coyle
Jenny Dell
Ricky Doyle
Dan Duquette, Jr.
Dennis Eckersley
Jack Edwards
Jamie Erdahl
Naoko Funayama
Peter Gammons
John Henry
Leah Hextall
Luke Hughes
Doug Kyed
Charlie Moore
Marcus O’Mard
Don Orsillo
Eric Ortiz
Jayme Parker
Adam Pellerin
Jerry Remy
Jim Rice
Jen Slothower
Zach Stoloff
Ben Watanabe
Read more at: http://nesn.com/2013/04/david-ortiz-says-f-word-during-speech-just-came-out-feels-like-boston-should-be-pumped/
don’t think there was one human being who wasn’t affected by what we got
going on down here,” Ortiz said. “This past week, I was very emotional,
very angry about the whole situation. I had to get that out of my chest
and just make sure that our fans and everybody in the nation knows that
this is a great nation, and part of it was how everybody supported each
other when this thing went down. I’m happy to be a part of this
nation.”
Read more at: http://nesn.com/2013/04/david-ortiz-says-f-word-during-speech-just-came-out-feels-like-boston-should-be-pumped/
“This past week, I don’t think there was one human being who wasn’t
affected by what we got going on down here,” Ortiz said. “This past week
for me, myself, I was very emotional and angry about whole situation
and got to get that out of my chest and make sure our fans and everyone
in the nation knows that this is a great nation and part of it was
supporting each other when everything went down.”
Thanks to Mike Browning for passing this gem along.
I want to hold my powder
Posted: April 15, 2013 Filed under: fire, powder | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, fire, hold fire, hold your tongue, humor, keep the powder dry, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, Morning Joe, Paul Ryan, powder, words Leave a commentThis malaphor was spoken by Congressman Paul Ryan (R – Wis) during his appearance on Morning Joe when asked for his “prebuttal” on Obama’s forthcoming budget. It is a mash up of “hold one’s fire” (refrain from criticism) and “keep one’s powder dry” (ready to take action if necessary). To “hold one’s tongue” also might be in the mix as it has a similar meaning and fits in the context. Or maybe Rep. ryan is changing his mind on the current gun legislation proposals? Many thanks to Mike Kovacs for spotting this one.
Official portrait of Congressman . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Malaphors 
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