It holds much weight
Posted: March 6, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: carries weight, expressions, holds water, humor, Jeremy Bash, language, malaphor, MSNBC, words Leave a commentJeremy Bash uttered this one the other night on the Malaphor channel, MSNBC. It is a mashup of “carries much weight” (to wield importance or influence) and “holds water” (stands up to critical examination). A subtle and commonly used malaphor. Props to Frank King for hearing this one.
Tie the tea leaves together
Posted: March 5, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, Here and Now, humor, language, malaphor, Mueller, NPR, read the tea leaves, tie it all together, Trump, words Leave a comment.This was heard on NPR’s “Here and Now” show. A pundit was talking about trying to predict what the Mueller investigation report will be like, based on all the information that has been released so far. It is a mashup of “reading the tea leaves” (predicting on little bits of information) and “tie it all together” (finish it up neatly). “Tie up loose ends” (resolve some issues at the end that are not critical) might also be in the mix. Tea leaves seem to confuse folks. Previous malaphors have included “reading between the tea leaves” https://malaphors.com/2017/03/27/reading-between-the-tea-leaves/ and “read between the tea lines” https://malaphors.com/2019/01/24/i-wish-i-could-read-between-the-tea-lines/. A tip of the hat to John Costello for hearing this one!
I know this is not everyone’s dish of tea
Posted: February 26, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cup and saucer, dish it out, expressions, humor, malaphor, Morning Joe, not one's cup of tea, William Weld, words 6 CommentsWilliam Weld, former Massachusetts governor, uttered this one on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, when he introduced the topic of climate change. This is a mashup of “not one’s cup of tea” (not one’s preference) and maybe “dish it out” (to dispense something, often verbally)? Or was the speaker just thinking of “cup and saucer” and got the two confused? No one knows except Mr. Weld, and perhaps he doesn’t either. On that note, I think I’ll have a “disha”. A big thanks to two people who heard this one and sent it in almost simultaneously: David Stephens and Donna Calvert. Thanks David and Donna!
They would jump on a bullet for him
Posted: February 25, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: congruent conflation, expressions, fall on a grenade, funny, humor, idioms, malaphor, take a bullet for, Trump, words Leave a commentThis was uttered when discussing the blind loyalty of Trump supporters. It is a congruent conflation of “take a bullet for (someone)” and “falling (or jumping) on a grenade for (someone)”, both meaning to accept a personally harmful or sacrificial task to protect someone else. Jumping on a bullet doesn’t seem like a great sacrifice to me, so perhaps this speaker was not such a loyal follower. A big thanks to John Kooser for hearing this one.
Is it “Defend On Your Own” night?
Posted: February 8, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, fend for yourself, malaphor, malaphors, stand on your own two feet, words 7 CommentsThe contributor says her husband says this when she doesn’t feel like cooking for dinner. The malaphor prompts a visual of the family opening the refrigerator and fighting for the best leftovers. This is a mashup of “stand on one’s (own) two feet” (act independently) and “fend for (oneself)” (take care of oneself without the assistance of others). I suppose the speaker was thinking of the word “fend” but uttered “defend” instead. A tip of the hat to Lori Snider for sending this one in!
My hackles were ruffled
Posted: February 6, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: congruent conflation, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, raise my hackles, ruffle my feathers, words Leave a comment
He tends to pull things out of his head
Posted: February 3, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphor, Matt Miller, MSNBC, off the top of his head, out of thin air, pulled a rabbit out of his hat, words Leave a commentHeard on MSNBC by Matt Miller, a former spokesperson for the Justice Department. He was talking about Rudy Giuliani and his off the cuff (“shoots off the cuff?”) remarks in interviews. This is a triple congruent conflation of “off the top of one’s head”, “pluck (something) out of thin air”, and “pull (something) out of a hat”, all meaning a random thought. “Head” and “hat” get confused a lot and that’s what appears to have happened here. As you know, the usual thing pulled out of a hat is a rabbit. As “my ol’ pal” notes, tThe more usual metaphor nowadays is “pull things out of his ass” (making things up) which is probably closer to the meaning of what Matt Miller was trying to convey about Giuliani. For obvious reasons he probably substituted “head” for “ass” at the last second. Thus the birth of this malaphor.
Smart as a tack
Posted: February 1, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, malaphors, sharp as a tack, smart as a whip, wordplay, words Leave a commentThis is an example of a perfectly formed malaphor. It is a congruent conflation (the best kind of malaphor, imho) of “smart as a whip” and “sharp as a tack”, both describing someone as highly intelligent. Smart and sharp are similar sounding words, and both idioms contain the “as a” words. Also, if you sit on a tack, it does smart, doesn’t it? The mashup is also heard in the Adam Sandler movie, “Big Daddy”. Here’s the clip:
A big thanks to Martin Pietrucha who heard this one and sent it in.
This is the big, 40,000 foot question
Posted: January 28, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 000 dollar question, 000 foot view, expressions, Here and Now, humor, idioms, malaphor, NPR, Roger Stone, the 10, the 64, Tim Mak, Trump, wordplay, words Leave a commentTim Mak, NPR political reporter on the NPR radio show, Here and Now, was discussing the recent indictment of Roger Stone. He was retelling what was in the indictment, but questioning what evidence Special Counsel Robert Mueller has in his possession. This gem can be heard at 5:15 of the following:
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/01/25/roger-stone-indicted
This is a wonderful conflation of “the 64,000 dollar question” (a question very important and/or difficult to answer) and “the 10,000 (or sometimes 20, 30, or 40,000) foot view” (a description of a problem or issue that provides general information, but short on details). Idioms containing numbers are often jumbled. I have posted some other great ones, such as “hindsight is 50/50” (https://malaphors.com/2016/12/20/hindsight-is-5050/) and “we were 3 sheets passing in the night” (https://malaphors.com/2016/10/25/we-were-3-sheets-passing-in-the-night/). A big thanks to Tom Justice for hearing this one and sending it in!
I wish I could read between the tea lines
Posted: January 24, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Art Rooney II, expressions, humor, idiom, idioms, language, malaphor, read between the lines, reading the tea leaves, WDVE, words Leave a commentThis was heard in a morning radio show (WDVE) interview with the Pittsburgh Steelers’ owner, Art Rooney II. Mr. Rooney was talking about the wide receiver, Antonio Brown, and what will happen to him in the future. This is a nice conflation of “reading the tea leaves” (predicting on little bits of information) and “reading between the lines” (perceiving an obscure or unexpressed meaning). Both idioms pertain to perceiving or predicting, and both contain the word “reading”. “Lines” and “leaves” are also similar sounding words. This is similar to my prior posted malaphor, “read between the tea leaves” :
A shout out to Mike Ameel for hearing this one and sending it in.
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