He pulls those hat tricks out of the bag

Posted: July 10, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments
This awesome conflation was uttered by Lane Johnson, Philadelphia Eagles right tackle, talking about his quarterback Carson Wentz.  A lot is going on in this malaphor.  “A bag of tricks” (skills one is able to use) and “pull a trick (on someone)” (to carry out a trick) are both in the mix, as well as “pull a rabbit out of the hat” (to do something that is seemingly impossible), the latter which is probably what the speaker was looking for.  The beauty of this one is that he adds “hat trick” (same player scores three goals in a hockey game), applying a hockey term to football.  Here is the link to this mash up:
https://theeagleswire.usatoday.com/2018/06/25/eagles-qb-carson-wentz-ranked-no-3-on-nfl-networks-top-100/

A big thanks to Jim Kozlowski for spotting this one and sending it in.  A classic for sure.

They are not putting all their marbles in one basket

Posted: July 3, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

This one is from the ESPN show “Pardon the Interruption” (PTI).  There was a discussion about the Lakers and LeBron James’ free agency. Michael Wilbon reported that Magic Johnson [the Lakers’ director of basketball operations] stated that they are not putting all their marbles in one basket. Even Tony Kornheiser then pointed out to Michael that it should have been eggs, not marbles.  This is a nice conflation of “for all the marbles” (all the winnings, spoils, or rewards) and “put all your eggs in one basket” (to invest all of one’s energy in a single venture).  Marbles resemble eggs and vice versa so this is probably the reason for the mix up.  A big thanks to Gerry Abbott for hearing this one and sending it in.

If you liked this malaphor, check out THE book on malaphors, “He Smokes Like a Fish and other Malaphors”, available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/0692652205.   Buying it is like putting all your malaphors in one basket.

He was drunk out of his ass

Posted: June 28, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I 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 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A 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 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 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 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

This 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 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

A 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 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Randy 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 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

This 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 | Author: | Filed under: WORD BLENDS | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bill 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.

 

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