Let’s get to the chase
Posted: October 28, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: congruent conflation, cut to the chase, expressions, get to the point, howard stern, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, words Leave a comment
Well, at blanket face? He’s great.
Posted: October 15, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: at face value, blanket statement, face blanket, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, mixed idioms, point blank, words expressions Leave a commentThis was uttered by the Queen of Malaphors, Naomi David. Her friend asked her what she thought of a guy she (her friend) was dating, and the Queen responded with this malaphor. Katie Hatfield says it is triple mash up and I agree: making a “blanket statement” (a phrase used to describe similarly situated things, usually resulting in diluting the specific meaning of individual terms), “at face value” (accepted from its outward appearance), and “point blank” (telling someone directly). Maybe Naomi was thinking of the Face Blanket, termed by the Huffington Post as “the stupidest product no one needs ever”. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/23/face-blanket_n_6737266.html Yes, that’s right, a blanket that goes over your face. So perhaps the boyfriend really looks better with a face blanket. Cheers!
You literally just took the food right out of my nose
Posted: October 9, 2015 Filed under: BODY PARTS, mouth, nose, Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, from under my nose, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, pay through the nose, words, words right out of my mouth 2 CommentsNot a pleasant visual. I think this is a mash up of “from under one’s nose” (in plain view) and “took the words out of my mouth” (to say something just before someone else was going to say the same thing). “My Ol’ Pal” suggests “pay through the nose” might be in the mix as well. A shout out to Ian who heard this one from his wife at lunch the other day.
Cough it over
Posted: October 6, 2015 Filed under: cough, Uncategorized | Tags: congruent conflation, cough it up, expressions, hand it over, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, words 1 CommentThis brilliant little gem was uttered accidentally by my neighbor and friend, Char Stone. It is a nice congruent conflation of “cough it up” and “hand it over”, both meaning to produce or present something. Both phrases have three words, share the word “it”, and contain direction words. Also, one generally puts a hand over a cough to prevent germs from spreading, perhaps adding to the confusion. It’s also a nice phrase to use when watching a cat attempt to cough up a hairball. Thanks Char for this one!
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?
I will haunt you to the ends of the earth
Posted: October 2, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Dr. Phil, Entertainment Tonight, expressions, haunt your dreams, humor, hunt you to the ends of the earth, language, malaphor, malaphors, Nichols Brendon, words Leave a commentThis beauty is from the Dr. Phil Show. He was interviewing Nicholas Brendon, one of the stars of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, who had walked off the set when Dr. Phil started asking him about his drinking and Brendon took issue with the line of questioning. In discussing the episode with Entertainment Tonight, Dr. Phil said that he was the wrong person to bring in if one really didn’t want to quit drinking because, “I will haunt you to the ends of the earth.” This is a mashup of “haunt your dreams” and “hunt you to the ends of the earth.” “Haunt” and “hunt” are similar looking and sounding words, contributing to the confusion. The malaphor contributor? Mike Kovacs of course. Just call him “Mike the Malaphor Slayer”. Thanks MMS.
We pooled our heads together
Posted: September 14, 2015 Filed under: BODY PARTS, head, Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, pooled our resources, pulled together, put our heads together, words 2 CommentsThis excellent malaphor was heard at a garden club. The context was a story about the founding of a garden at the U.S. National Arboretum. The designers were told at the last minute that they needed to make a major change to one of the parts of the garden, so they “pooled our heads together” to quickly come up with an alternative. Many thanks to Barry Eigen for hearing this one and sending it in. Barry notes this is a mash up of “pooled our ideas/resources” (group individual ideas or money), “pull together (as a team)” (cooperate, work well together), and perhaps, by sound, “pulled our thoughts (or ideas) together”. This latter suggestion is intriguing to me, as the sound “pull” and “pool” are indistinguishable here in Western Pennsylvania, resulting in a homonym (the same is true of “hill” and “heel”, as in the classic classified ad, “high hills for sale”). Perhaps the speaker hailed from Pittsburgh?
He went over the deep edge
Posted: September 11, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, off the deep end, over the edge, words Leave a commentSeen on a corporate flyer, this malaphor is a subtle congruent conflation of “over the edge” and “off the deep end”, both meaning to act irrationally or out of control. Both phrases describe a precipice, hence the confusion. Also the words “off” and “over” are similar in sound and shape. I think “edge” and “end” also contribute to the mental hiccup. A big thanks to Marcia Johnston, author of several books and the website writing.rocks, for spotting this one and passing it on!
Get down to the soup and nuts of it
Posted: September 8, 2015 Filed under: FOOD, nut, soup, Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, nuts and bolts, soup to nuts, words Leave a commentThe speaker was discussing an issue and wanted to get to the heart of the matter. This is a mash up of “get down to the nuts and bolts” (get down to the basic facts) and “everything from soup to nuts” (almost everything one can think of). “Get down to brass tacks” (begin to talk about the important stuff) might also be in the mix given the context. And then there is the Soup Nazi (nutsy?) who also wanted everyone to just get to the heart of the matter and order soup. A big thank you to Elaine Hatfield for hearing this one and passing it on!
(Trump) shoots from the cuff
Posted: September 5, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Donald Trump, malaphors, Megyn Kelly, off the cuff, shoot from the hip 2 CommentsMegyn Kelly was talking about Trump’s encounter with Jorge Ramos:
KELLY: When he got up there, you know, in his speech, he was talking about how he thinks they should ban Teleprompters for these politicians. These presidential candidates which I think, you know, the President actually uses a teleprompter pretty much in most places he goes. But I don’t know that the candidates have been. But the point is, there is a realness to Donald Trump that is missing from so many of these other candidates. They do tend to sound rehearsed and stilted. He is never rehearsed. Obviously he shoots from the cuff and he says everything that comes to his mind which has gotten him in some trouble but I think helps him more than it hurts him. And people are very much connecting to that.
I have posted this malaphor earlier (see March 2014 entry) but it bears repeating, considering the timeliness of this excellent mixed idiom. Shoot from the cuff is a mash up of “shoot from the hip” and speaking “off the cuff”, both meaning to speak spontaneously and frankly. (Also see “shoot from the lip” in my Politics section). Thanks to Sandor Kovacs and Vicki Kovacs for both spotting this one!
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