That’s a horse of a different story
Posted: August 12, 2013 Filed under: ANIMALS, horse | Tags: another story, blended idioms, expressions, horse of a different color, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, words Leave a commentThis is a blend of “a horse of a different color” (an entirely different matter) and “that’s another (or different) story” (an explanation to give at some other time). A big thanks to Robyn Pietrucha who heard this malaphor spoken in the 1934 comedy short, “The Chases of Pimple Street”, starring Charley Chase. The movie is a spoof of the 1934 classic, “The Barretts of Wimpole Street”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charley_Chase
I had a sneaking hunch
Posted: August 9, 2013 Filed under: hunch | Tags: blended idioms, Chordettes, conflation, congruent conflation, Dick Clark, have a hunch, have a sneaking suspicion, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, television, words 2 Comments
Publicity photo of American Bandstand host Dick Clark. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This congruent conflation mixes “I had a sneaking suspicion” and “I had a hunch”, both meaning to have a feeling or premonition. This beauty was found by Laszlo Veres on a You Tube video of an old Dick Clark Bandstand show. Dick was interviewing the Chordettes (Lollipop) and you can hear the malaphor at 3:21 of the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fty3Nzc-oiY
I think that’s the pink elephant in the room
Posted: August 7, 2013 Filed under: elephant, pink | Tags: alex rodriguez, blended idioms, elephant, elephant in the room, espn, expressions, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, new york yankees, pink elephants, words 1 CommentThis masterpiece is a mash up of “elephant in the room” (obvious problem no one wants to discuss) and “seeing pink elephants” (recovering from an alcoholic bout). It is particularly interesting as it was uttered by Alex Rodriguez, baseball player for the New York Yankees:
Rodriguez, who admitted to taking steroids from 2001-2003 with the Texas Rangers, said he supported baseball’s efforts to rid the game of performance-enhancing drugs. But he seemed to question the Yankees’ alleged attempts to keep him from returning to the team.
“I think that’s the pink elephant in the room,” Rodriguez said. “I think we all agree that we want to get rid of PEDs. That’s a must. I think all the players feel that way. But when all the stuff is going on in the background and people are finding creative ways to cancel your contract, I think that’s concerning for me. It’s concerning for present [players] and it should be concerning for future players as well. There is a process. I’m excited about the way I feel tonight and I’m going to keep fighting.”
Read A-Rod hopes for return to Yankees on Monday on ESPN.com
This beauty was caught by John Costello. Kudos to John for a timely (and Freudian slip?) malaphor. See also entries “the white elephant in the room” (Sept 6, 2012), “the 800 pound gorilla in the room” (Nov 15, 2012), and “memory like a hawk” (Nov 17, 2012). Elephant malaphors apparently come in all shapes and colors.
we still have a lot of hurdles to jump through
Posted: August 5, 2013 Filed under: hoops, hurdles, jump | Tags: blended idioms, clear a hurdle, expressions, humor, jump through hoops, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, words 1 CommentThis is a wonderful mix of “jump through hoops” (do everything possible to please or obey someone) and “clear a hurdle” (overcome an obstacle). The confusion lies with hoops and hurdles, things you jump through and jump over. It was caught by Deb Rose as she was listening to NPR. The speaker was talking about legalizing marijuana, the possible business opportunities it might inspire, and the logistics of making that happen. He said, “we still have a lot of hurdles to jump through.” Yeah right. ‘Nuff said.
Keep your eyes on the tiger
Posted: August 4, 2013 Filed under: eye, tiger | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, eye of the tiger, eyes on the prize, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, words Leave a commentThis is a blend of “eyes on the prize” and “eye of the tiger”. I heard this tonight in the Sopranos episode “Sentimental Education” (Season five, Episode six). The writing in the Sopranos is rich with wordplay. I have posted several malaphors heard on the Sopranos series.
I’ve got better fish to fry
Posted: August 2, 2013 Filed under: fish, fry | Tags: Batman Returns, better things to do, bigger fish to fry, blended idioms, Catwoman, Christopher Walken, expressions, fish, fry, humor, language, malaphors, Max Shreck, mixed idioms, Tim Burton, words 2 CommentsThis one comes from the Christopher Walken character in the movie Batman Returns:
Charles ‘Chip’ Shreck: Dad, you buy that “blurry” business?
Maximillian’Max’ Shreck: Women. Nothing surprises me, Chip, except your late
mother. Who’d have thought Selina had a brain to damage. Bottom line,
she tries to blackmail me, I’ll drop her out a higher window. Meantime, I
got better fish to fry.
I’ve opened up a can of beans
Posted: July 31, 2013 Filed under: bean, can | Tags: beans, blended idioms, can of worms, expressions, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, spill the beans, words, worms 1 CommentThis is a mash up of “”can of worms” and “spill the beans”. Of course, by itself it could be meant literally as opening a can of beans, but in the context the speaker meant to say “I’ve opened up a can of worms”. This malaphor is similar to a previous malaphor post – “That’s a real ball of worms” (12/18/12), mixing “can of worms” with “ball of wax”. Thanks to Denita for sending this one in!
Things roll off my shoulders
Posted: July 28, 2013 Filed under: back, roll, shoulders | Tags: blended idioms, broad shoulders, conflation, expressions, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, roll off my back, words Leave a commentI think this is a mash up of “letting things roll off ones back” and “having broad shoulders”, both meaning to accept criticism and not worry. Shoulder rolls (or shrugs) also may come into play. A tip of the toque to Sam Edelmann for hearing and sharing this one.
He was known to get hot off the collar
Posted: July 24, 2013 Filed under: collar | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, hot off the press, hot under the collar, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, Pittsburgh, words, WPXI Leave a commentBreaking malaphor news!! This is a mix of “hot under the collar” (angry) and “hot off the press” (just released or freshly printed). It was heard by the keen ears of Mike Kovacs when he was watching the local news on WPXI in Pittsburgh. The WPXI correspondent reports that neighbors say the suspect was known to get “hot off the collar.”
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