We played our hearts off
Posted: June 28, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Carl Hagelin, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, Pittsburgh Penguins, played our hearts out played out butts off, words Leave a commentThis was spoken by Pittsburgh Penguins hockey player Carl Hagelin after winning the Stanley Cup. It is a congruent conflation of “played our butts off” and “played our hearts out” (to an extreme degree or very hard). Out and off are the culprits here. Of course, maybe Carl is a bridge player. A big thanks to Jake Holdcroft for hearing this one on a local sports program and passing it on!
What planet are you living under?
Posted: June 26, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, on another planet, what rock did you crawl out of, words 2 CommentsThis botched question is a mashup of the phrases “on another planet” (oblivious to one’s surroundings or acting strangely) and “what crawled from under a rock” (someone or something unsavory or disliked). It might be appropriate for Atlas but not sure who else. A big thanks to Hannah Evanuik for unintentionally saying this one and Jake Holdcroft for passing it on!
It tickled my fancy bone
Posted: June 23, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, it tickled my funny bone, language, malaphor, malaphors, tickled my fancy, words Leave a commentThis is a nice mash up of “tickled my fancy” and “it tickled my funny bone” (to make someone laugh). To laugh and be curious at the same time? Perhaps, but in this case just another great malaphor. Tickle is the culprit here, as well as the similar sounding words “fancy” and “funny”. A big thanks to “Curious Steph” who wrote this accidentally. By the way, she is starting a new blog – curioussteph.com, Check it out.
They’re getting ready to lower the bomb on them
Posted: June 20, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: drop the bomb, expressions, humor, language, lower the boom, malaphor, malaphors, words 2 Comments
Anne of Seven Gables
Posted: June 16, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Anne of Green Gables, expressions, humor, language, Lucy Maud Montgomery, malaphor, malaphors, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables, words 4 Comments
That game was a real nail-breaker
Posted: June 12, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized, WORD BLENDS | Tags: expressions, heart-breaker, humor, ice breaker, language, malaphor, malaphors, nail-biter, Pittsburgh Penguins, Stanley Cup, words Leave a commentI just heard this nice word blend malaphor today. A couple of guys in the sauna were talking about the Penguins/Predators final game for the Stanley Cup and one blurted this out. It is a mash up of “nail-biter” (a situation whose outcome is marked with nervous apprehension) and “heart-breaker” (a situation that causes great sadness). Since the subject was hockey, perhaps “icebreaker” (to initiate a conversation or get it started) was also on the speaker’s mind.
At the drop of a beat AND Hold the brakes
Posted: June 8, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: at the drop of a hat, congruent conflations, expressions, First Dates, hit the brakes, hold your horses, humor, in a heartbeat, language, malaphor, malaphors, NBC, words 4 CommentsDouble malaphor!! This is as rare as a double rainbow sighting. Both of these malaphors were heard on one episode of the NBC show First Dates. “At the drop of a beat” is a congruent conflation of “at the drop of a hat” and “in a heartbeat”, meaning to do something immediately. Hat and heart might be the culprits here, and perhaps the speaker thinking of the slang phrase “dropping a beat”, meaning to play a beat. See http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/drop-a-beat.
“Hold the brakes” is another congruent conflation of “hit the brakes” and “hold your horses”, both meaning to stop something. Hold and hit are probably the culprits in this mashup. Outstanding work goes to Steve Grieme for hearing both of these, sending them in, and offering the above deconstruction of each phrase. Steve is now given the official title of “Malaphor Man”.
She’s not a shrinking flower
Posted: June 6, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, shrinking violet, wallflower, words Leave a commentThis is a nice congruent conflation of “shrinking violet” and “wallflower”, both describing someone who is shy. The confusion is obvious: violets are flowers. The speaker (who was me by the way) may have also been mixing shrinking with stinking. The local conservatory, the Phipps, has a corpse flower, which emits a smell akin to rotting flesh when it blooms, and the day I uttered this malaphor the flower had bloomed and there was a great deal of news about it.
Trump’s window… is sinking
Posted: June 5, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Donald Trump, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, PowerPost, sinking ship, Washington Post, window of opportunity, words 1 CommentThis nice malaphor was spotted in the PowerPost section of the Washington Post:
“THE HONEYMOON IS OVER:
“– Trump’s window to score early legislative victories is sinking as Congress’s summer recess nears — giving the president just two months to revive his health-care and tax efforts before lawmakers depart Capitol Hill for a long break.”
Here’s the source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/05/31/daily-202-the-gop-s-invisible-agenda/592d9df4e9b69b2fb981dbf8/?utm_term=.e07bf7d92b04
It is a mashup of “a window of opportunity is closing” (a brief time period in which an opportunity exists) and “ship is sinking (or sinking ship)” (a failed or floundering organization or entity). Sinking windows is never a good thing. A big thank you to Barry Eigen for seeing this one and sending it in!
He (Obama) starts signing them (Executive Orders) like they’re butter
Posted: June 2, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cuts through like a hot knife through butter, Donald Trump, Executive Orders, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, selling like hotcakes, Seth Meyers, words Leave a commentThis beauty was uttered by Donald Trump in April 2016 when he was on the campaign trail. He was talking about Executive Orders, and how he was not going to use that vehicle to get things done, unlike then President Obama:
“Executive orders sort of came about more recently. Nobody ever heard of an executive order, then all of a sudden Obama — because he couldn’t get anybody to agree with him — he starts signing them like they’re butter, so I want to do away with executive orders for the most part.” http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/331134-trump-using-executive-orders-at-unprecedented-pace
Of course we all know now Trump used the Executive Order process at an unprecedented pace in his first 90 days. This is a mashup of “to go/cut through something like a (hot) knife through butter” (to do or cut something very easily) and “selling like hotcakes” (to sell quickly and in large numbers). While “sell” and “hotcakes” are not in the malaphor, I believe he was thinking of this idiom when he uttered the mix up, confusing “selling” for “signing”. Kudos to Karl Robins for spotting this one as he saw it on Seth Meyers’ 4/26/17 monologue.
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