He was drunk out of his ass
Posted: June 28, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: drunk off his ass, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, out of his mind, words Leave a commentI love this one. This was overheard outside a bar. It is a mashup of “drunk off his ass” (very intoxicated) and “out of his mind” (crazy). Crazy drunk? Upside down? A big thanks to Anthony Kovacs for hearing this one and sending it in!
I need to catch my bearings
Posted: June 25, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: catch my breath, expressions, get my bearings, humor, malaphor, malaphors, words Leave a commentA person was getting overwhelmed trying to do too many things at once. He then blurted out that “I need to stop and catch my bearings.” This is a mashup of “get my bearings” (figure out one’s position relative to one’s surroundings) and “catch my breath” (relax, take a break). “Bearings” and “breath” start with a “b”, causing the malaphor. Also, both phrases indicate someone pausing before proceeding. A big thanks to John Kooser for hearing this one and passing it on.
If you enjoyed deconstructing this mixup you will love my book on malaphors, “He Smokes Like a Fish and other Malaphors”, available on Amazon. Catch your bearings and then head to your computer to order it for a cheap 6.99.
Will it pay fruit?
Posted: June 23, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bear fruit, Chris Matthews, expressions, humor, malaphor, malaphors, pay dividends, pay off, Trump, words Leave a comment“The Master of Malaphors” Chris Matthews said this beauty on his show on June 13, talking about Cohen possibly flipping on Trump. It is a congruent conflation of “pay off”, “pay dividends”, and “bear fruit”, all meaning to yield positive benefits or results. Let the flipping begin, and see the many bananas and apples appear.
By the way, loyal followers might cry foul on this one as I posted this malaphor last November. https://malaphors.com/2017/11/22/our-hard-work-is-finally-starting-to-pay-fruit/ True, but when “The Master” speaks, I must post. A big thanks to “Hawkear” Frank King for hearing this one.
Shudder in its tracks
Posted: June 20, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Ars Technica, expressions, freeze in its tracks, humor, malaphor, malaphors, shudder to think, stop dead in its tracks, words Leave a commentThis was found in the Ars Technica website, a site covering news and opinions in technology, science, and politics. Here is the full quote:
“That ruthlessly efficient system helped bubonic plague kill nearly 25 million people and made the ancient world shudder in its tracks during the Justinian plague of 541–542.” https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/06/4000-year-old-genomes-point-to-origins-of-bubonic-plague/
It is a conflation of “shudder to think” (afraid to think about something as it may be unpleasant) and “stop/freeze/halt (someone or something)(dead) in its tracks” (suddenly stop because something has frightened or surprised you). Considering the context, the author might have been thinking about death and the word “dead” may have been floating around in the head, spewing out “in its tracks”. A big thanks to Barry Eigen for spotting this one. Barry said the malaphor also reminded him of the expression “shaking (shivering) in their boots”. Me too!
She bought the Kool Aid
Posted: June 10, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: buy into it, drink the Kool Aid, expressions, humor, Jim Jones, Jonestown, malaphor, malaphors, words 3 CommentsA friend and his wife were watching t.v. The wife uttered this, discussing someone who believed what they heard. It is a congruent conflation of “drinking the Kool Aid” and “buy into it”, both meaning to go along or believe in an idea because of peer pressure. The former expression derives from the November 1978 Jonestown deaths, in which over 900 members of the Peoples Temple, who were followers of Jim Jones, died, many of whom committed suicide by drinking a mixture of a powdered soft-drink flavoring agent laced with cyanide and prescription drugs Valium, Phenergan, and chloral hydrate, while the rest of the members, including 89 infants and elderly, were killed by forced ingestion of the poison. A big thanks to Martin Pietrucha for hearing this one and passing it on!
He should jump to the chase
Posted: June 2, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Ari Melber, cut to the chase, expressions, humor, jump at the chance, malaphor, malaphors, MSNBC, Randy Credico, Trump, words 2 CommentsRandy Credico uttered this one on MSNBC’s The Beat with Ari Melber the other night. Credico was talking about encouraging Adam Schiff to take the opportunity to meet with Julian Assange, saying “he should jump to the chase…” This is a mashup of “cut to the chase” (abandon the preliminaries and focus on what is important) and “jump at the chance” (seize the opportunity). Similar looking and sounding words “Chance” and “chase” probably were the culprits in this jumble. A big thanks to “Hawkear” Frank King for sharing this one.
If you haven’t already, you need to jump to the chase to buy my malaphor book, “He Smokes Like a Fish and other Malaphors”, available on Amazon for a mere $6.99. Let’s get to the chase and buy it!
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.
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.
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
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