Spiraling downhill
Posted: May 25, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: downward spiral, expressions, going downhill, Greta Van Susteren, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, MSNBC, words Leave a commentIs there such a thing as a dyslexic malaphor? “Spiraling downhill” might be one. It was said on MSNBC’s Greta Van Susteren’s show, referring to Trump’s leaking of classified information to the Russians in the Oval Office. I believe it is a mashup of “spiraling down” and “going downhill”, both meaning something going out of control and getting worse. There is also “downward spiral”, also meaning a situation getting worse. If I keep thinking about this one, I will be spiraling downhill so my analysis now ends. A tip of the hat to Mike Kovacs for hearing this one!
There’s a lot of mending bridges going on
Posted: November 28, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: building bridges, expressions, humor, Jenna Johnson, language, malaphor, malaphors, mending fences, MSNBC, With All Due Respect, words Leave a comment
Hillary Clinton is in the process of refudiating everything that Mr. Trump says
Posted: September 19, 2016 Filed under: WORD BLENDS | Tags: Donald Trump, expressions, Hardball, Hillary Clinton, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, MSNBC, refuting, repudiating, Sean Jackson, WORD BLENDS, words 1 CommentThis nice word blend malaphor was uttered by Sean Jackson, chairman of the Florida Black Republican Caucus and Trump supporter, on MSNBC’s Hardball. Mr. Jackson stated, “Hillary Clinton is in the process of refudiating everything that Mr. Trump says by trying to make him out to be the bigot.” See http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/hardball/2016-08-26
This is a mash up of “repudiating” (rejecting the validity or authority) and “refuting” (proving or saying that something is not true). Word blend malaphors are an interesting subset of idiom blend malaphors. There are quite a few posted on this website. A shout out to Sam Edelmann who heard this one and passed it on!
If you liked this malaphor from the political world, you will want to get the book “He Smokes Like a Fish and other Malaphors”, available on Amazon! There is a whole chapter devoted to mash ups from politics.
There is not enough respect shown to ordinary people busting their necks
Posted: August 22, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: breaking their necks, busting their butts, expressions, humor, Joe Biden, language, malaphor, malaphors, Morning Joe, MSNBC, Trump, words Leave a commentThis beauty was uttered by Vice President Joe Biden on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. He was talking about both parties and noting that they were not very good “at listening to the concerns of ordinary people busting their necks.” http://info.msnbc.com/_news/2016/07/27/35882707-morning-joe-news-joe-biden-says-the-democratic-party-overall-hasnt-spoken-enough-to-white-working-class-voters?lite
This is a nice congruent conflation of “busting their butts” and “breaking their necks”, both meaning to work very hard. The confusion not only stems from the similar meanings of both phrases but also the words “bust” and “break”. In addition, as noted here many times, body parts are often mixed up in the wonderful world of malaphors. A big thanks to Linda Bernstein for catching this in the NY Times and passing it on!
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The man is a nut cake
Posted: August 10, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Chris Hayes, Donald Trump, expressions, Gordon Humphrey, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, MSNBC, nutcase, nutty as a fruitcake, words Leave a commentOn MSNBC’s “All In with Chris Hayes” show last night, former New Hampshire Senator Gordon Humphrey (R-NH) said Trump is a “nut cake”. This is a congruent conflation of “nutcase” and “nutty as a fruitcake”, both obviously meaning to be crazy or insane. Here is an excerpt from the transcript, courtesy of Breitbart News (trying to stay apolitical here):
In the common parlance, the man is a nut cake, he is a looney bird. And it would be the height of irresponsibility to elevate him to the presidency. It would be recklessness to make him commander in chief. I’ve issued a call to members of the RNC this afternoon to demand an emergency meeting of the Republican National Committee to strip Donald Trump of the nomination and to replace him with someone of sound mind.
http://www.breitbart.com/video/2016/08/09/fmr-nh-senator-trump/
As followers know, malaphors are spoken by all, including Republicans and Democrats. Who can forget Obama’s excellent “my opponent would like you to think I am green behind the ears when it comes to foreign policy”, or Hillary Clinton’s recent “the creme de la resistance”? A big thanks to Sam Edelmann who heard this one and passed it on to Malaphor Central.
The RNC has to thread the line carefully when dealing with Trump
Posted: December 15, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Donald Trump, expressions, humor, Katy Tur, language, malaphor, malaphors, MSNBC, RNC, thread the needle, walk a fine line, words Leave a commentThis gem was overheard on MSNBC. Correspondent Katy Tur was commenting on the Republican National Committee (RNC) walking a tight rope with respect to Donald Trump, and ended by uttering this malaphor. It is a congruent conflation of “thread the needle” and “walk a fine line”, both meaning to strike a balance between conflicting or different forces. Perhaps she was thinking of threading a fishing line? A big thank you to Louis Mande for hearing this one and passing it along.
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