Stem this dam
Posted: November 24, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: break the dam, Heidi Przybyla, humor, idioms, language, stem the tide Leave a commentHeidi Przybyla was on Nicole Wallace’s MSNBC show, Deadline White House, and was talking about members of Congress coming forward and admitting that Biden won. She said there is a “question if those coming forward are going to be enough to stem this dam for part of the country.” This appears to be an incongruent conflation (mix of two idioms with opposite meanings) of “stem the tide” (stop the course of a trend or tendency) and “break the dam” (allow information to flow). A big thanks to Bruce Ryan and Frank King for both hearing this one and sending it in.
It’s petering down
Posted: November 19, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, Heidi Przybyla, humor, idioms, language, malaphors, Morning Joe, MSNBC, petering out, Trump, winding down, words Leave a commentNo, this was not said in an erectile dysfunction commercial, but rather by Heidi Przybyla on MSNBC’s Morning Joe the other day. She was talking about the Mueller investigation. It is a congruent conflation of “petering out” and “winding down”, both meaning to slowly come to a conclusion or end. Another tip of the hat to Frank King for spotting this one. He has the ears of a hawk.
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