You can’t get a leopard to change his stripes
Posted: January 23, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: a leopard cannot change its spots, a tiger cannot change its stripes, expressions, humor, malaphor, wordplay, words 2 CommentsThis was uttered by an employee commenting on a work group that seem set in its ways. It is a nice congruent conflation of “a leopard cannot change its spots” and “can’t change one’s stripes”, both meaning that people are incapable of changing their essential nature. The speaker might also have been thinking of the expression “a tiger cannot change its stripes”, meaning the same as the two expressions above. Confusing tigers and leopards is certainly understandable, both being big cats. A big thanks to Steven Michael for hearing this one!
I can’t put my tongue on it
Posted: January 21, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: can't put my finger on it, expressions, humor, idioms, language, malaphor, on the tip of my tongue, words Leave a commentA girl was asked what gift she wanted for Christmas. She couldn’t remember the name of the toy, and uttered this congruent conflation of “can’t put my finger on it” and “on the tip of my tongue”, both meaning something one can’t quite recall. Fingers have tips so perhaps that is what led to the speaker’s confusion. Or maybe she had watched too many reruns of the movie “A Christmas Story”. A big thanks to Hannah Evanuik for overhearing this one!
My old car shit the bucket
Posted: January 18, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, idioms, kicked the bucket, language, malaphor, shit the bed, wordplay, words Leave a commentMaggie Acker uttered this beauty when talking about her car that stopped running. It is a congruent conflation of “kicked the bucket” and “shit the bed”, both idioms referring to something or someone that died or failed. “Shit the bed” is a relatively new idiom (I found it in the Wiktionary – https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shit_the_bed ). It usually refers to something that breaks and can’t be repaired, like a cell phone. Interestingly, in the U.K, it means to express surprise. The mental mix up probably also was caused by the similar sounding words “kick” and “shit”. A big, big thanks to John Fischer who heard this one and passed it on.
Everything’s peachy-dory
Posted: January 16, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, hunky-dory, malaphor, malaphors, peachy keen, Trump, wordplay, words Leave a commentWhile I have posted this one before (https://malaphors.com/2014/03/16/thats-just-peachy-dory/), it bears repeating as President Trump said it a few days ago. Let’s go to the transcript:
THE PRESIDENT: Well, the news incorrectly reported. Because I said, well, if we go back and everything is peachy- dory, and you say, “We’ll talk over 30 days,” at the end of 30 days, are you going to give us great border security, which includes a wall or a steel barrier.
This is a mash up of the expressions peachy keen and hunky-dory, both meaning fine or satisfactory. This seems to be a fairly common malaphor, based on internet hits. Now hunky keen is a different matter….Several of you caught this one, including Steve Grieme and Mike Kovacs, both expert malaphor hunters.
He should have shown more fire and vinegar
Posted: January 14, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 93.7 the Fan, Andrew Fillipponi, expressions, fire and brimstone, humor, malaphor, malaphors, Mike Tomlin, piss and vinegar, wordplay, words Leave a commentAnother from sports talk radio. Andrew Fillipponi from 93.7 The Fan (a Pittsburgh sports talk radio show) was talking about Steelers coach Mike Tomlin’s lack of anger and passion at his press conference after the loss to the New Orleans Saints. It is a sweet mashup of “fire and brimstone” (intense speech filled with emotion and anger) and “piss and vinegar” (having an abundance or excessive amount of rowdiness or enthusiasm). Maybe the speaker didn’t want to say “piss” on the air, but he could then have substituted “spit” as “spit and vinegar” has the same meaning. The contributor of this nice malaphor wanted to remain anonymous so I respect his/her wishes.
Top of the crop
Posted: January 10, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cream of the crop, expressions, humor, Illy, malaphor, top notch, top of the heap, wordplay, words Leave a commentThis gem was seen on the sleeve of an Illy cup of coffee (see picture below). While it may not be unintentional (Illy is an Italian coffee company, so who knows?) it was too good to pass up. It is a conflation of “top of the heap” and “cream of the crop”, both meaning superior to others or the very best. This one is similar to a malaphor posted a few years ago, “He is the top of the notch”. https://malaphors.com/2012/12/11/he-is-the-top-of-the-notch/
A big thanks to Steve Grieme for spotting this one in sunny St. Petersburg, Florida, and taking a picture of it!
The guardrails are coming off
Posted: January 9, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cnn, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, off the rails, Trump, wheels are coming off, wordplay, words 2 Comments
Nothing to shake a home about
Posted: January 7, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, idioms, Joe Theismann, malaphor, malaphors, nothing to shake a stick at, nothing to write home about, Redskins, wordplay, words Leave a commentJoe Theismann, the ex-Redskins quarterback, was discussing the 2018 Redskins on a local D.C. sports talk radio show and in particular the average wide receiver corps. This is a mash up of “more (something) than you can shake a stick at” (a very large number) and “nothing to write home about” (not especially remarkable or noteworthy). This is an interesting one as the two idioms have almost opposite meanings – a perfect example of an incongruent conflation. Maybe Joe was thinking of an earthquake with homes shaking when he uttered this one. A big thanks to Joe Welch who heard this one and sent it in.
A rose is a rose by any other name
Posted: January 4, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, Gertrude Stein, Hardball, humor, language, literature, malaphor, MSNBC, Shakespeare, words Leave a commentThis is a nice literary malaphor, uttered on the MSNBC show Hard Ball . It is a congruent conflation of Shakespeare’s “A rose by any other name” and Gertrude Stein’s sentence “a rose is a rose is a rose”, both interpreted as meaning things are what they are. A big thanks to Mike Kovacs for hearing this conflation of two famous lines in literature.
He had a hissing contest
Posted: January 3, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 93.7 the Fan, Antonio Brown, expressions, hissy fit, humor, malaphor, pissing contest, Ron Cook, Steelers, wordplay, words Leave a commentRon Cook, a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sports writer, uttered this beauty on the sports talk radio show, 93.7 The Fan. He was summarizing Steelers’ wide receiver Antonio Brown’s out of control behavior and that Brown had “a hissing contest” with one of the coaches. This is a conflation of “pissing contest” (useless or trivial argument) and a “hissy fit” (a childish temper tantrum). Both idioms actually fit the context, a rarity in malaphors. The rhyming of hissing and pissing also contributed to the mashup. A big thanks to John Kooser for hearing this one and sending it in.
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