I was slapped down with a little humble pie
Posted: March 27, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Buffalo Bills, eat humble pie, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, mixed idioms, New York Jets, Rex Ryan, slapped down, Toronto Sun, words Leave a commentThis crazy malaphor mixes “slap (someone) down” (to rebuke or rebuff someone) and “eat humble pie” (meek admission or mea culpa). The Toronto Sun quoted Buffalo Bills coach Rex Ryan responding to the question of whether he feels rejuvenated coaching a different team:
“I’m back, there’s no question about it. I was slapped down with a little humble pie there (with the New York Jets). It was tough … embarrassing.” Bills coach Rex Ryan
Interesting origin to the phrase “humble pie” – The “humble pie” that we eat when we make a misjudgment or outright error was originally “umble” pie made from the intestines of other less appetizing animal parts. Servants and other lower-class people ate them, as opposed to bettercuts. “Umble” became “humble” over the years until eating that pie came to mean expressing a very meek mea culpa. A similar phrase is “eat crow,” the bird being as unpalatable a dish as one’s own words. From the Free Dictionary.
A big thank you to John Costello for sending this one in!

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