You are lemmings to the slaughter
Posted: January 19, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, lambs to slaughter, language, like lemmings, malaphor, malaphors, words Leave a commentSometimes comments on Facebook produce great malaphors. This one is no exception. It was uttered by an anti-vaxxer accusing everyone of not knowing or wanting to know the “truth”. It is a mashup of “lambs (or pigs) to the slaughter” (innocently and helplessly, without realizing the danger) and “like lemmings” (doing things without fear or thought). Both idioms concern large numbers usually, and both refer to people who really aren’t thinking but merely following. I suppose when lemmings jump over the cliff they are going to their “slaughter”. A big thanks to Cassandra Anne who spotted this one on her facebook feed.
They’re acting like a herd of lemmings
Posted: October 5, 2015 Filed under: cattle, lemmings, Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, herd of cattle, humor, language, like lemmings, malaphor, malaphors, words 1 CommentI heard this one from a guy from Nova Scotia, who was discussing how tourists tend to stick together. As with any good malaphor, it sounded somewhat right but just a little off. I then had to write it down to remember it (another attribute of a good malaphor). It is a congruent conflation of “acting like lemmings” and “herd of cattle”, both describing groups following an unthinking course. As the lemming is a rodent, it does not run in groups but is a solitary creature, although in popular culture they run in large groups toward mass destruction. Isn’t he/she cute?
Malaphors 
Recent Comments