There’s a smoke trail
Posted: June 1, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphor, Mark Teixeira, paper trail, Robinson Cano, smoking gun, words 1 CommentThis malaphor was uttered by Mark Teixeira, discussing Robinson Cano’s suspension for violating MLB drug rules:
“Robbie Cano’s assistant was on the list for Biogenesis,” Teixeira said. “Of course he had his assistant buy stuff for him. Alex Rodriguez got popped by Biogenesis and Melky got popped. They’re his best friends. When someone gets lumped into that group, it’s because there’s evidence, there’s a paper trail, there’s a smoke trail. …
This is a mash up of “paper trail” (written evidence of someone’s activities) and “smoking gun” (indisputably incriminating evidence). The speaker might also have been thinking about contrails, which are essentially smoke trails from airplanes. A big thanks to John Costello for spotting this one!
Good Magic. Tip my hand to him
Posted: May 29, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Bob Baffert, expressions, humor, malaphor, malaphors, Preakness, show my hand, tip my hat, words Leave a commentThis was uttered by Justify’s trainer, Bob Baffert, at the 2018 Preakness. It is a mashup of “tip my hat” (to give one credit) and “show my hand” (to make one’s plans known to others). A big thanks to John Polk. John by the way has a great twitter account called @ClichesGoneWild. If you enjoy wordplay, you will love his posts.
It’s a powerhorse
Posted: May 26, 2018 Filed under: WORD BLENDS | Tags: Bill Goldberg, Forged in Fire, malaphor, malaphors, portmanteau, powerhouse, WORD BLENDS, workhorse Leave a commentBill Goldberg, host of the History Channel’s “Forged in Fire” uttered this word blend malaphor when describing a particular sword. This is a congruent conflation of “powerhouse” and “workhorse”, both describing a person or thing having great energy or strength.
Word blends are a subset of malaphors. They are an unintentional blending of two or more words. If you type word blend in the search engine on this blog or go to the index and scroll down to Word Blends you will see the many word blends I have posted. Some examples are “Buckminster Abbey” (Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey and maybe Buckminster Fuller), and “blinched” (flinched and blinked). The word blend malaphor is different than the portmanteau. A portmanteau is an intentional blend of two words to create a new word with its own definition. An example is smog (fog and smoke). Word blend malaphors are simply mixed up words with no separate definition and are said unintentionally. I hope you enjoyed my wordplay lesson of the day.
A big thank you to Anthony Kovacs for hearing this word blend and sending it in.
It definitely has my radar up
Posted: May 24, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: have my antennae up, humor, language, malaphor, Mika Brzezinski, Morning Joe, on my radar, Trump, words expressions Leave a commentThis was heard on Morning Joe on May 17, uttered by Mika Brzezinski discussing the missing SARS reports and Ronan Farrow’s story. It is a nice mashup of “on my radar (screen)” (considered important) and “has my antenna up” (curiosity or interest). “Have my back (or dander) up” (get someone angry) might also be in the mix, but I doubt it considering the context (although the whole Cohen affair might be ticking her off). A big thanks to that Malaphor Extraordinaire, Frank King, for hearing this one. He certainly has the ears of a hawk.
He broke the scoop
Posted: May 21, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: break the story, expressions, get the scoop, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, Rachel Maddow, Trump, words Leave a commentRachel Maddow uttered this malaphor the other night, talking about Ronan Farrow’s latest scoop. It is a mashup of “get the scoop” (get the news) and “break the story” (the first to address an issue, usually news). Since “the scoop” is usually the news, this fractured saying makes some sense. It also has a little assonance to it, so to speak. Another thank you to Frank King for sharing this one.
He’s bald as a bat
Posted: May 19, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bald as a coot, blind as a bat, humor, idioms, malaphor, words Leave a commentA work colleague was attempting to describe why a helmet might feel uncomfortable for a customer, saying “Admittedly he’s bald as a bat. This is a nice mashup of “bald as a coot (or cue ball)” (completely bald) and “blind as a bat” (having poor vision). I like the alliteration here but bats indeed have hair. Coots are not bald either. Coots have prominent frontal shields or other decoration on the forehead, with red to dark red eyes and coloured bills. Many, but not all, have white on the under tail. The featherless shield gave rise to the expression “as bald as a coot,” which the Oxford English Dictionary cites in use as early as 1430. A shout out to Gibbon for hearing this one and sending it in.
Enjoyed this malaphor? Then you would love my book “He Smokes Like a Fish and other Malaphors”, available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0692652205
The buck stops at the top
Posted: May 18, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, Ginger Gibson, Hardball, humor, malaphor, malaphors, MSNBC, the buck stops here, Trump, words Leave a comment
The fish rots from the top
Posted: May 17, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: a fish rots from the head down, Chris Matthews, expressions, humor, malaphor, malaphors, top of the ladder, Trump, words Leave a comment‘The (new) Master” has spoken yet again. Chris Matthews uttered this mashup as he was discussing the Trump staffer who said about McCain, “he’s dying anyway”. This is a mix of the idioms “a fish rots from the head down” (when an organization fails, the chief executive is the root cause) and “top of the ladder (or food chain)” (the position of most importance). The “head” is certainly at the “top” of a person, which could have cause Mr. Matthew’s mental hiccup. This is one of many from his lips, so please loyal followers, watch Mr. Matthews with baited ears. A big thanks to Frank King for hearing this Matthewism and sending it in.
It was on the cards
Posted: May 14, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Bill Neely, expressions humor, in the cards, malaphor, malaphors, MSNBC, on deck, on the radar, Trump, words 3 CommentsMSNBC chief global correspondent Bill Neely uttered this one. He was talking about the recent release of the U.S. prisoners in North Korea and said that the release had been “on the cards” for awhile as they were moved to a hotel before release. This is a congruent conflation of “in the cards” and “on deck”, both meaning certain or likely to happen next. The mental mashup origin is clear in this one: the speaker probably was thinking “deck” which led him to “cards” as in “deck of cards”. Also in the mix might have been “on the radar” (considered important or noteworthy) considering the context. A big thanks to Bruce Ryan for hearing this one and sending it in!
We haven’t emptied all our cards
Posted: May 12, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: empty out, expressions, humor, language, Lawrence O'Donnell, malaphor, malaphors, Michael Avenatti, Michael Cohen, MSNBC, show one's cards, Trump, words Leave a commentThis was uttered by Michael Avenatti on the Lawrence O’Donnell MSNBC show when he was asked whether there will be any further disclosures regarding Michael Cohen. It is a mashup of “show (one’s) cards” (to make one’s plans or intentions known) and “empty (something) out” (to remove or pour all of the contents from something). Revealing and then emptying seems to be what he has done to date, so the malaphor makes sense. This is not the first malaphor uttered by Michael Avenatti. Check out some of his other great mashups, like “he folded like a cheap deck of cards”. A big thanks to Beatrice Zablocki for hearing this one. She’s a major contributor to this site. She’s the top of the notch!
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