It’s trial by error
Posted: November 27, 2013 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphors, Murder She Wrote, television, trial and error, trial by fire, wordplay, words Leave a commentThis might be another “freudian slip malaphor” (see “I have nothing to hide but the truth”), when considering it was spoken by a physician. This is a mash up of “trial by fire” (ability to perform under pressure) and “trial and error” (trying repeatedly for success). It’s also the title of a “Murder She Wrote” and a “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” episode. Who knew? Thanks to Barry Eigen for sending in this gem.
There’s no use crying over fish in the sea
Posted: August 27, 2013 Filed under: ANIMALS, cry, fish, milk | Tags: blended idioms, Don Draper, don't cry over spilled milk, expressions, humor, language, Mad Men, malaphors, mixed idioms, plenty of fish in the sea, television, words Leave a comment
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 CommentsThis 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
That’s hogcock
Posted: March 13, 2013 Filed under: WORD BLENDS | Tags: 30 Rock, Alec Baldwin, blended idioms, expressions, hogwash, humor, Jack Donaghy, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, poppycock, television, words 2 CommentsThis word blend malaphor was uttered on the t.v. show 30 Rock by Alec Baldwin’s character, Jack Donaghy. In fact, it was the title (Hogcock!) of the first part of the one hour series finale. It is a blend of “hogwash” and “poppycock”, as the character says.
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