I will haunt you to the ends of the earth
Posted: October 2, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Dr. Phil, Entertainment Tonight, expressions, haunt your dreams, humor, hunt you to the ends of the earth, language, malaphor, malaphors, Nichols Brendon, words Leave a commentThis beauty is from the Dr. Phil Show. He was interviewing Nicholas Brendon, one of the stars of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, who had walked off the set when Dr. Phil started asking him about his drinking and Brendon took issue with the line of questioning. In discussing the episode with Entertainment Tonight, Dr. Phil said that he was the wrong person to bring in if one really didn’t want to quit drinking because, “I will haunt you to the ends of the earth.” This is a mashup of “haunt your dreams” and “hunt you to the ends of the earth.” “Haunt” and “hunt” are similar looking and sounding words, contributing to the confusion. The malaphor contributor? Mike Kovacs of course. Just call him “Mike the Malaphor Slayer”. Thanks MMS.
We pooled our heads together
Posted: September 14, 2015 Filed under: BODY PARTS, head, Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, pooled our resources, pulled together, put our heads together, words 2 CommentsThis excellent malaphor was heard at a garden club. The context was a story about the founding of a garden at the U.S. National Arboretum. The designers were told at the last minute that they needed to make a major change to one of the parts of the garden, so they “pooled our heads together” to quickly come up with an alternative. Many thanks to Barry Eigen for hearing this one and sending it in. Barry notes this is a mash up of “pooled our ideas/resources” (group individual ideas or money), “pull together (as a team)” (cooperate, work well together), and perhaps, by sound, “pulled our thoughts (or ideas) together”. This latter suggestion is intriguing to me, as the sound “pull” and “pool” are indistinguishable here in Western Pennsylvania, resulting in a homonym (the same is true of “hill” and “heel”, as in the classic classified ad, “high hills for sale”). Perhaps the speaker hailed from Pittsburgh?
He went over the deep edge
Posted: September 11, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, off the deep end, over the edge, words Leave a commentSeen on a corporate flyer, this malaphor is a subtle congruent conflation of “over the edge” and “off the deep end”, both meaning to act irrationally or out of control. Both phrases describe a precipice, hence the confusion. Also the words “off” and “over” are similar in sound and shape. I think “edge” and “end” also contribute to the mental hiccup. A big thanks to Marcia Johnston, author of several books and the website writing.rocks, for spotting this one and passing it on!
Get down to the soup and nuts of it
Posted: September 8, 2015 Filed under: FOOD, nut, soup, Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, nuts and bolts, soup to nuts, words Leave a commentThe speaker was discussing an issue and wanted to get to the heart of the matter. This is a mash up of “get down to the nuts and bolts” (get down to the basic facts) and “everything from soup to nuts” (almost everything one can think of). “Get down to brass tacks” (begin to talk about the important stuff) might also be in the mix given the context. And then there is the Soup Nazi (nutsy?) who also wanted everyone to just get to the heart of the matter and order soup. A big thank you to Elaine Hatfield for hearing this one and passing it on!
The Fed should hold pat
Posted: September 4, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, hold fast, hold firm, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, mixed idioms, pat hand, stand pat, words Leave a commentWho is Pat and why is she/he being held? This malaphor was found on the NY Times website:
“While the Fed may be loath to show a pull back from its proposed rates, a move upwards followed by a downward revision a year from now if we move toward recession would be worse. We are well under the targeted inflation benchmark, the world economies are reeling. I can see no reason to move up rates. The Fed should hold pat and signal a revisiting next year.” (emphasis added)
This is a congruent conflation of “hold firm” and “stand pat”, both meaning to stick to one’s position or opinion. “Hold fast” (stay the course) certainly is in play here as well, as it fits the context. “Stand” and “hold” are words that could be confused as they mean similar things in card playing – deciding not to receive any additional cards. A “pat hand” is a dealt poker hand that does not need improvement. Of course, it might be the other Pat’s cousin.
A big shout out to Barry Eigen for spotting this one and passing it on!
This is a song about a woman who’s at her rope’s edge
Posted: August 31, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: at my wit's end, at the end of my rope, driven to the edge, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, pushed over the edge, words, writing.rocks 2 CommentsThis malaphor was heard at a concert. It is a mash up of “at the end of one’s rope” and “pushed over the edge” (an unpleasant event makes someone behave in a crazy way). “Wit’s end” may also be in the mix. “Drive someone to the edge/brink” (to make someone almost insane) also comes to mind. End and edge are similar sounding words, adding to the confusion. A big thanks to Marcia R. Johnston for hearing this one and sending it in. As Marcia writes:
“Apparently, the song pushed her to the edge, where she found the end of her rope. And given the syntax, it seems that she was at her wit’s end as well. Poor soul!”
By the way, Marcia has a great website – writing.rocks – filled with wordplay, contests, etc. Check it out!
I have a beef to pick with you
Posted: August 28, 2015 Filed under: beef, bone, Uncategorized | Tags: congruent conflations, expressions, have a beef, have a bone to pick, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, mixed idioms, words Leave a commentPossibly the best congruent conflation to date, this beauty was heard by the now famous Malaphor Hunter, John Costello. From my count this is his 11th contribution to the site. It is a mash up of “have a beef” and “have a bone to pick”, both idioms meaning to have a complaint about something. There are many causes for the unintentional conflation. The obvious one is that the two phrases have the same meaning. Also, bone and beef are four letter words, and are somewhat related (cattle have bones, many cuts of beef have bones). We cut our beef with knives (picks).
This malaphor was also uttered (intentionally) by Stephen Colbert when he interviewed Sir Paul McCartney in 2009:
“I have a beef to pick with you, sir, in that you don’t eat beef,” Colbert said. http://vegetarianstar.com/2009/01/
Thanks to John Costello for hearing this one!
You need to get your ass together
Posted: August 27, 2015 Filed under: ass, BODY PARTS, Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, get off your ass, get your act together, get your shit together, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, words 1 CommentThis is a mash up of “get your act/shit together” (get organized) and “get off your ass” (stop loafing and get to work). Both idioms direct someone to get moving, invoking a congruent conflation. Also ass and act are three letter words that have a similar sound. Finally, the lower half of the body is at work here in both phrases. Many thanks to Robyn Pietrucha for blurting this one out and passing it along!
I had to pick up the flak
Posted: August 24, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, mixed idioms, pick up the pace, pick up the slack, taking flak, words 1 CommentThis was mentioned by a plaintiff who said she had a hard boss. At first blush, it seems like just the misuse of a word (flak instead of slack), but I believe it is also a malaphor, mixing “pick up the slack” (do the work of someone else) and “taking flak” (receiving strong criticism). “Pick up the pace” (increase the rate that something is done) might actually be the phrase the speaker intended, based on the context. Muchas gracias to Sam Edelmann for hearing this one and passing it on!
You know, I was burning the bridges at both ends
Posted: August 21, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: burn one's bridges, burning the candle at both ends, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, words Leave a commentThis was overheard when a woman was chatting to her friends about how hard she had been working lately. It is a mash up of “burning the candle at both ends” (extreme effort without rest) and “to burn one’s bridges” (make decisions that cannot be changed in the future). The verb burn seems to be the cause of the conflation. This mized idiom is similar to a previous postinh involving burning bridges – see https://malaphors.com/2013/01/17/well-burn-that-bridge-when-we-come-to-it/. A big thanks to Mr.Tonk for sending this one in!
Malaphors 
Recent Comments