We don’t want to get caught with our pants off
Posted: March 1, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: caught off guard, caught with our pants down, congruent conflation, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, mixed idioms, words Leave a commentMarykathryn strikes again! In preparing for a trial, she and her husband were discussing strategy and who was going to do what. She told him they had better really study the transcript from the Deposition and be prepared to catch the witness in any lies. He agreed. She then uttered, “Well after all, we do not want to get caught with our pants off.” This is a great congruent conflation of “caught off guard” and “caught with our pants down”, both meaning to be taken by surprise. This is an amusing mash up, for many reasons. First, it uses the word “off” in the wrong place. Adding to the confusion is the word “caught” found in both phrases. “Pants off” and “pants down” achieve the same purpose, so I can see why the speaker mixed up her idioms. Another shout out to Marykathryn Kopec for providing a great malaphor!
He bent over hoops for me
Posted: February 19, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bend over backwards, congruent conflation, humor, idioms, jump through hoops, language, malaphor, malaphors, words Leave a commentNow that’s impressive! This ditty was overheard at a benefits hearing where the claimant was referring to someone who was assisting her. It is a congruent conflation of “jump through hoops” and “bend over backwards”, both meaning to do everything possible to please someone or accomplish something. Bending over hoops is probably the ultimate in pleasing someone. The mix up is caused, I think, by the action words bend and jump, and by the similar meanings of the phrases. A shout out to Sam Edelmann who heard this one and passed it along.
I can do a pre-hearing statement off the fly
Posted: January 18, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: congruent conflation, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, off the cuff, on the fly, words Leave a commentThis beauty was spoken by a confident attorney prior to a hearing. It is a congruent conflation of “on the fly” and “off the cuff”, both meaning to do something quickly and without thinking carefully before they do it. Mixing “on” and “off” is certainly a part of this malaphor, and perhaps “fly” and “cuff”, as both can be articles of clothing? Using “off” instead of “on” actually makes more sense as an airplane “flies off” to somewhere. “Fly off” means to go in a hurry, similar to the meaning of this malaphor. The speaker perhaps just inverted the words “fly” and “off”. A big thanks to Sam Edelmann for hearing his one and passing it along.
That train has sailed
Posted: November 13, 2015 Filed under: ACTION, sail, train, Uncategorized | Tags: Austin Powers, congruent conflation, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, that ship has sailed, that train has left the station, words 1 CommentThis is a congruent conflation of “that ship has sailed” and “that train has left the station”, both meaning the act has already been done. It was said by Austin Powers in the movie Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery, when he was speaking to a drunk Vanessa:
She was very groovy.
Your dad loved her very much.
If there was one other cat in this world that could have loved her and treated her as well as your dad then it was me.
But unfortunately for yours truly that train has sailed.
Vanessa?
Vanessa? Hello?
A big thanks to Sam Edelmann for hearing this one. Oh behave!
Let’s get to the chase
Posted: October 28, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: congruent conflation, cut to the chase, expressions, get to the point, howard stern, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, words Leave a comment
Cough it over
Posted: October 6, 2015 Filed under: cough, Uncategorized | Tags: congruent conflation, cough it up, expressions, hand it over, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, words 1 CommentThis brilliant little gem was uttered accidentally by my neighbor and friend, Char Stone. It is a nice congruent conflation of “cough it up” and “hand it over”, both meaning to produce or present something. Both phrases have three words, share the word “it”, and contain direction words. Also, one generally puts a hand over a cough to prevent germs from spreading, perhaps adding to the confusion. It’s also a nice phrase to use when watching a cat attempt to cough up a hairball. Thanks Char for this one!
Keep your mouth down
Posted: July 27, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: congruent conflation, expressions, humor, keep it down, keep your mouth shut, language, malaphor, malaphors, The Watch, words 1 CommentThis is a great congruent conflation of “keep your mouth shut” and “keep it down”, both meaning to keep quiet. “Keep” is the shared word that adds to the confusion. It was heard on the movie “The Watch”. Here’s the context (heroes talking to the skeptical police):
There’s aliens in the store.
Oh yeah? Aliens. Where?
It was right over there until you scared it. Now keep your mouth down.
http://www.subzin.com/quotes/M5919500d3/The+Watch/Now%2C+keep+your+mouth+down.
A big thanks to Barry Eigen for spotting this one and passing it on!
I have a lot of plates up in the air
Posted: July 17, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: a lot on my plate, balls in the air, congruent conflation, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, words Leave a commentHeard on a conference call, this is a great congruent conflation of “a lot of balls in the air” and “a lot on my plate”, both meaning having a great deal or too much to deal with. My guess is that the speaker was also thinking not only of ball juggling but also plate spinning, both common juggling acts. Thanks to John Costello for hearing this one and passing it on!
His head between his tail
Posted: June 27, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: congruent conflation, expressions, hanging your head, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, tail between your legs, words Leave a commentThe other day on Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough was commenting on Donald Trump’s announcement that he was running for president, “[I]f people think he’s going to get one person and crawl away with his head between his tail, they probably have it wrong.” Body parts are certainly the source of many malaphors. I think this is a congruent conflation of “putting your tail between your legs” and “hanging your head”, both expressions meaning feeling ashamed or embarrassed. As the contributor Louis Mande says, ” Either way, I agree. Neither one describes The Donald.” Thanks Louis for hearing this one and sending it in!
It was like pulling blood out of a stone
Posted: April 23, 2015 Filed under: ACTION, pull, stone, THINGS | Tags: congruent conflation, expressions, getting blood from a stone, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, pulling teeth, words Leave a commentThis is a perfect congruent conflation. It mixes “getting blood out of (or from) a stone” and “like pulling teeth”, both phrases meaning to do something with great difficulty. The speaker was finding a particular essay difficult to write and remarked that writing it was like pulling blood out of a stone. A big thanks to Red C. for sending this one in from the U.K.
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