He had a bug under his saddle
Posted: March 19, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, idioms, language, malaphor, words Leave a commentThe speaker was describing a friend who was complaining. This is a congruent conflation of “burr under (one’s) saddle” and “bug up (one’s) ass”, both referring to a source or cause of a persistent annoyance. This one is similar to a previous post, “he put a burr in her bonnet”. https://malaphors.com/2012/12/28/he-put-a-burr-in-her-bonnet/ A big thanks to Martin Pietrucha for sharing this one.
I’m living the paradise
Posted: March 17, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, mixed idioms, words Leave a commentTwo guys were having a conversation. One asked the other how he was doing, and he replied, “I’m living the paradise”. This is a congruent conflation of “living the dream” and “another day in paradise”, both referring to living an ideal life (but the latter is often used sarcastically). A shout out to Mike Kovacs for hearing this one and sending it in.
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Meshing on all cylinders
Posted: December 6, 2024 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, malaphor, malaphors, Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles, words Leave a commentThe coach of the football team, the Philadelphia Eagles, was asked about the team’s collapse last year:
“Last year is over. We don’t care about last year,” Sirianni said on Sunday. “We learned what we needed to learn from last year and what we needed to do off of that. This year, it’s a different group of guys. This is a different team that’s gelling and meshing on all cylinders right now. With that being said, you are only as good as your last game. We’ve got a big game coming up this weekend.” Here is the link to the entire interview:
This is a mashup of “meshing with (someone)” (working well together) and “hitting on all cylinders” (performing at maximum efficiency). Both idioms describe working together and the malaphor could thus be a congruent conflation. Props to Linda Bernstein for spotting this one in the Philadelphia Inquirer and sending it in!
I think Hillary really had the upper leg
Posted: November 8, 2024 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, Hillary Clinton, humor, Kamala Harris, malaphor, malaphors, New York times, words Leave a commentThis one was spotted in a New York Times article about how undecided voters are making up their minds. The one lady named Morgan said about the comparison between Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris:
“I think it’s unfair. I think Hillary was much more versed going into her campaign. I feel that Harris is not nearly as prepared as Hillary was. I do see some similarities, in terms of the name-calling and belittling. I think Hillary really had the upper leg, if you had to compare the two.”
This is a nice congruent conflation of “have a leg up” and “have the upper hand” (have an advantage over someone or something). This is another example of a body part mix up. A big thank you to Linda Bernstein for spotting this one!
It was a softball layup
Posted: November 6, 2024 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, idioms, malaphor, words Leave a commentThe contributor’s nephew, who loves just about all sports, uttered this one. It is a congruent conflation of “a softball” and “a layup”, both describing something easy (one is a question and the other a task). A softball layup must be super easy. A big thanks to Verbatim for hearing this one and sending it in.
They’re talking out of both sides of their neck
Posted: June 7, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphor, Ronald Greene, Velshi, words Leave a commentRonald Greene’s attorney was talking about the Louisiana police and a cover up on MSNBC’s Velshi show when he uttered this malaphor. It’s a mashup of “talking through the back of (one’s) neck” (exaggerate, often to the point of making false statements) and “talking out of both sides of (one’s) mouth” (maintain contradictory positions in an attempt to please the most people). This conflation combines the meanings of both idioms into one new one. A big thanks to Jim Kozlowski for hearing this one.
He’s way in over his skis
Posted: May 10, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Biden, Kamala Harris, Kimberly Guilfoyle, malaphor, Salon, skis Leave a commentKimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump, Jr. announced on Newsmax Tuesday that she “knows” Vice President Kamala Harris is secretly in charge of the White House.
“It’s really sad, he’s way in over his skis,” former Fox News personality Kimberly Guilfoyle said of Biden during an appearance on Newsmax.
“Kamala Harris is really the de facto commander-in-chief,” she argued. “She made it very clear.”
“She’s calling the shots here, I know this, I’ve known her a long time,” Guilfoyle said.
Indeed, Guilfoyle first met Harris over twenty years ago. Back then, Guilfoyle was dating Gavin Newsom, the current Democratic governor of California. The two were married in 2001 and Guilfoyle became the first lady of San Francisco when he was sworn in as mayor in 2004. They went on to divorce in 2006.
But it is difficult to imagine how Guilfoyle now has insight into the inner workings of the Biden White House, which she sought to block from happening while being paid by the re-election campaign of her boyfriend’s father.
This is a mashup of “out over (one’s) skis” (get ahead of yourself) and “in over (one’s) head” (in a situation too difficult to deal with). This is similar to a previous post about skis: “let’s not get ahead of our skis”. https://malaphors.com/2018/04/26/lets-not-get-ahead-of-our-skis/. “Out” and “in” here seemed to confuse Ms. Guilfoyle.
A shout out to Mike Kovacs, who seems to catch malaphors on a daily basis. Bravo Mike.
This is the first step in the water
Posted: March 20, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: humor, language, malaphor, words Leave a commentSalt Lake City mayor Erin Mendenhall was describing the reopening of the public libraries and uttered this nice malaphor. It is a conflation of “the first step” (first in a series of actions), “the first step is always the hardest” (starting is the most difficult part of any task) and “dip a toe in the water” (to tentatively begin a new experience). Steps and toes go together and so does this nice mashup. A big thanks to Kathy Shand for hearing this one and sending it in!
They need to roll with the times
Posted: February 24, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: humor, idioms, malaphor Leave a commentA conversation ensued about some people resisting a new initiative at Penn State. The speaker then blurted this one out. It is a mashup of “roll with the punches” (cope with adversity, especially by being flexible) and “get with the times” (to understand or be knowledgable of modern times). “Let the good times roll” may also have been in the speaker’s mind, as I know he is a fan of The Cars. Also perhaps he was thinking of “a roll of dimes”, something he may have done in childhood. Or maybe “Roll Tide!”? A big thanks to Martin Pietrucha who self-reported this malaphor.
We fought each other like tooth and tongue
Posted: February 15, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: humor, idiom, language, malaphor, tooth and nail Leave a commentGrace Panetta from Business Insider discussed 11 political friendships that crossed party lines. In the section on Orrin Hatch and Ted Kennedy, Hatch says: “I have to say that we became very dear friends. That doesn’t mean we didn’t fight each other. We fought each other like tooth and tongue but afterwards, we’d put our arms around each other and laugh about it,” Hatch told NPR in 2009 after Kennedy’s death.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/11-political-friendships-proved-party-170214573.html?guccounter=1
Given the context, this appears to be a mashup of “tooth and nail, fight/with” (furiously or fiercely) and “hammer and tongs” (energetically or enthusiastically). Tongue sounds like tong (almost a homophone) and so the speaker was probably thinking “tongs”, but that still is a malaphor. The two expressions indicate doing something with great passion, hence the mixup. A tooth is near the tongue, so the substitution of tongue for nail. A big thanks to Lou Pugliese for spotting this one.
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