Our wishes have been answered
Posted: March 30, 2026 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blended idioms, expressions, humor, Josh Getzoff, language, malaphors, Pittsburgh Penguins, words 1 CommentDuring a Pittsburgh Penguins pre-game show, Josh Getzoff uttered this nice congruent conflation of “our prayers have been answered” and “our wishes have been granted”, both phrases confirming that a request has been fulfilled. Props to Steve Kovacs for hearing this subtle malaphor and sending it in!
We played our hearts off
Posted: June 28, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Carl Hagelin, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, Pittsburgh Penguins, played our hearts out played out butts off, words Leave a commentThis was spoken by Pittsburgh Penguins hockey player Carl Hagelin after winning the Stanley Cup. It is a congruent conflation of “played our butts off” and “played our hearts out” (to an extreme degree or very hard). Out and off are the culprits here. Of course, maybe Carl is a bridge player. A big thanks to Jake Holdcroft for hearing this one on a local sports program and passing it on!
That game was a real nail-breaker
Posted: June 12, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized, WORD BLENDS | Tags: expressions, heart-breaker, humor, ice breaker, language, malaphor, malaphors, nail-biter, Pittsburgh Penguins, Stanley Cup, words Leave a commentI just heard this nice word blend malaphor today. A couple of guys in the sauna were talking about the Penguins/Predators final game for the Stanley Cup and one blurted this out. It is a mash up of “nail-biter” (a situation whose outcome is marked with nervous apprehension) and “heart-breaker” (a situation that causes great sadness). Since the subject was hockey, perhaps “icebreaker” (to initiate a conversation or get it started) was also on the speaker’s mind.
Malaphors 
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