His head between his tail

Posted: June 27, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The other day on Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough was commenting on Donald Trump’s announcement that he was running for president, “[I]f people think he’s going to get one person and crawl away with his head between his tail, they probably have it wrong.”  Body parts are certainly the source of many malaphors.  I think this is a congruent conflation of “putting your tail between your legs” and “hanging your head”, both expressions meaning feeling ashamed or embarrassed.  As the contributor Louis Mande says,  ” Either way, I agree. Neither one describes The Donald.”  Thanks Louis for hearing this one and sending it in!

This team never put their head between their knees

Posted: August 13, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

This phrase stands on its own, describing what one might do if one feels faint, but in context, it is a nice malaphor.  The speaker is Tom Seaver, discussing the 69 Mets team and how they came back from adversity and never quit.  Pretty sure he was mixing “not putting your tail between your legs” and “not hanging your head”, both expressions meaning not feeling ashamed or embarrassed.  “keep your head up” (feeling calm in the face of adversity) also seems in play here. Thanks to Steve Hubbard who heard this on the MLB Network regarding Cinderella teams.