On your moral high horse
Posted: September 27, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Buck Sexton, Clay Travis, expressions, humor, Jimmy Kimmel, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, words 1 CommentThis was heard on the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, 9/18/25, opening monologue. They were discussing the recent suspension of the Jimmy Kimmel Show, and opining that Hollywood is suddenly vocal that entertainment figures shouldn’t be canceled when they said nothing about the silencing of those they disagreed with. This is a mashup of “moral high ground” (status of being seen as ethically superior) and “on one’s high horse” (behaving in an arrogant or pompous way). In a way this is an incongruent conflation as the idioms seem to have opposite meanings, particularly in context. A big thanks to frequent contributor Verbatim for catching this one!

I went around his back
Posted: April 15, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, idioms, jennifer Aniston, Jimmy Kimmel, language, malaphor, went around him, went behind his back, words Leave a commentAt first blush, this sounds right but on closer inspection I think it’s a bona fide malaphor. In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Jennifer Aniston said this one when she was talking about auditioning for a role on the soap opera in which her Dad was a regular cast member. It’s a congruent conflation of “go behind (someone’s) back” and “go around”, both meaning to do something secretly or without your permission. This subtle mashup required someone with the ears of a hawk and that would be none other than Mike Kovacs, a regular contributor to this website. Thanks Mike!

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