Kind of a tough nut to tease out
Posted: March 13, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphor, tease out, tough nut to crack, words Leave a commentThis was overheard in a work conversation. It is a mashup of “a tough nut to crack” (a problem that is challenging to solve) and “tease out (something)” (to unravel or separate out something). The two idioms fused together indicate something that is hard to solve. A big thanks to Amanda Zsuzsics for hearing this one and sending it in to my facebook page, Malaphors.
They are high on our radar
Posted: March 11, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, high on the list, humor, language, malaphor, on the radar, under the radar, words Leave a commentA national hockey writer was talking about the Pittsburgh Penguins’ chances of winning the Stanley Cup this year, and he mentioned that the Pens are always “high on our radar”. This is a congruent conflation of “on the radar” and “high on the list” (something important or noteworthy). “Under the radar” (undetected) is an idiom and may have contributed to the mashup (under vs. high). A big thanks to John Kooser for hearing this one and sending it in.
He’s teetering a fragile line
Posted: March 8, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphor, teetering on the edge, Trump, walking a fine line, words Leave a commentGinger Gibson, Reuters Political Correspondent on the NPR show A1, was talking about Trump’s recent actions relative to the Roger Stone sentencing. This is a mashup of “teetering on the edge” (to be very close to a dangerous situation) and “walking a fine line” (in a dangerous situation where you could easily make a mistake). Both idioms involve dangerous situations, and “line” and “edge” are closely related. Not sure where “fragile” fits in, but “fine” has a similar meaning to “fragile”, to wit – fine means “having or requiring an intricate delicacy of touch” as in ‘delicate’, ‘fragile’, ‘frail’,” etc .” Here’s where you can hear a recording: at 7:25. https://the1a.org/segments/the-news-roundup-domestic-2020-014-02/
By the way, this is Ms. Gibson’s second malaphor. See https://malaphors.com/2018/05/18/the-buck-stops-at-the-top/.
A tip of the hat to David Barnes for hearing this one.
Right out of the bat
Posted: March 5, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Cal Perry, humor, language, malaphor, off the bat, out of the gate Leave a comment
He’s tooting that horn all the way to the bank
Posted: March 2, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Biden, expressions, humor, language, laughing all the way to the bank, malaphor, tooting one's own horn, Trump, words Leave a commentThis one comes from the Washington Post’s Daily 202 Connie Breeden, an attorney who is African American, said “This is going to be Biden’s last stand because he thinks that black people are going to support him just because of Barack Obama. He’s tooting that horn all the way to the bank. But people are savvier than that.” This is a mashup of “tooting his own horn” (to boast or brag about one’s abilities) and “laughing all the way to the bank” (to profit from something that others regard as stupid or frivolous). Here’s the link to the malaphor
Perhaps the speaker was thinking of thieves dressed as clowns robbing a bank. That is certainly in several movies, including Quick Change. A big thank you to Barry Eigen for spotting this one and sending it in.
He has his hands in a lot of pies
Posted: February 22, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: a finger in every pie, expressions, hand in something, humor, language, malaphor, words Leave a commentThe contributor of this malaphor was also the speaker, and blurted out this beauty by accident. It is almost a congruent conflation, as both “a hand in something” and “a finger in every pie” mean to have an interest in or involvement in a matter, but in the case of finger in every pie, it is involvment in everything. “Fingers” and “hands” seem to be the culprit here, and I suspect, knowing the speaker, that his mind might have been on some pie-fighting scenes in a few 3 Stooges shorts. A shout out to Martin Pietrucha for sending this one in!
I have a job underneath the books
Posted: February 4, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, off the books, under the table, words Leave a commentThis was heard at an administrative hearing. The speaker was talking about work that he was currently performing. It is a congruent conflation of “off the books” and “under the table”, both meaning to do something in secret so that taxes won’t be paid. Then again, maybe the speaker works in the basement of a library. A follow up question hopefully was made. A big thanks to John Costello for hearing this one.
If you liked this one, check out my book on malaphors, “He Smokes Like a Fish and other Malaphors”, available underneath on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0692652205
A little bit of a tightrope that the Democrats have to run
Posted: February 1, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Frank Thorp V, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, MSNBC, run the gauntlet, Trump, walk a tightrope, words Leave a comment
We’ve never sought to depose every witness under the face of the sun
Posted: January 31, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Adam Schiff, everything under the sun, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, on the face of the earth, Trump, words Leave a commentAdam Schiff, House Manager in the Trump Impeachment Trial, uttered this in response to the President’s counsel’s comment that witnesses would be endless and that the trial could drag on until the next election. Here is the context and the quote:
Taking up additional witnesses “could be done very quickly, effectively, we’ve never sought to depose every witness under the face of the sun,” Schiff later added, noting that a select four witnesses have been specified by House managers as “particularly appropriate and relevant” to their case.
This is a terrific congruent conflation of ” everything under the sun” and “on the face of the earth”, both meaning all things in existence, or everything one can reasonably imagine. The speaker apparently was thinking of the earth and the sun at the same time. A big thanks to Bruce Ryan for hearing this one and sending it in. Bruce has the ears of a hawk.
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