Egg this process forward
Posted: May 10, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Barr, Devlin Barrett, egg on, expressions, malaphor, malaphors, move it forward, Rachel Maddow, Trump, words Leave a commentThis was uttered on the Rachel Maddow show. It was regarding Devlin Barrett’s breaking story regarding Mueller’s letter to Barr about his concerns with Barr’s summary. It is a nice congruent conflation of “egg someone on” and “move (something) forward” both meaning to cause or encourage someone to do something. A big thanks to Frank King, the Mental Health Comedian, for hearing this one!
He’s grabbed it by the horn
Posted: April 20, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Bill Barr, expressions, grab 'em by the pussy, grab the bull by the horns, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, Mueller Report, Trump, words Leave a commentThis amazing malaphor was uttered by Donald Trump, on his reaction to Bill Barr’s performance as Attorney General and how Barr has handled the Mueller Report.
“Attorney General Barr is going to be giving a press conference and maybe I’ll do one after that, we’ll see. But he’s been a fantastic attorney general. He’s grabbed it by the horns,” Trump said.
https://www.abc-7.com/story/40326997/democrats-outraged-as-trump-team-shapes-mueller-report-rollout
It is a mashup of “grab the bull by the horns” (take control of a difficult situation) and Trump’s own expression, “grab ’em by the p***y” (stating that since he is rich and powerful he can do anything he wants with women). Given the speaker, it is probably a good bet that the latter expression was floating in his mind when he uttered this malaphor. Perhaps the word “horns” triggered the mix up? A big thanks to Mike Kovacs for hearing this gem and realizing it was a genuine malaphor. Excellent work, Mike. Keep those ears open.
There are people waiting around the wings
Posted: April 6, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: around the corner, Heather McGee, humor, language, malaphor, MSNBC, Trump, waiting in the wings Leave a commentThis one was uttered by Heather McGee on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace. She was referring to people wanting to challenge Donald Trump in 2020. It is a mashup of “waiting in the wings” (stand ready to do something at the appropriate time) and I think “just around the corner” (very soon, imminent). As followers of this website know, MSNBC is known as The Malaphor Channel. Malaphors tend to be spoken when someone is filling up airspace, such as political pundits, sports radio shows, and athletes being interviewed. A big thanks to Guy Moody for spotting this subtle one.
It sticks under my skin
Posted: March 27, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: gets under my skin, humor, language, malaphor, Morning Joe, MSNBC, Noah Rothman, sticks in my craw, Trump Leave a commentNoah Rothman uttered this nice malaphor on the MSNBC show, “Morning Joe”, on March 21. He was referring to Trump’s comments about McCain and Obamacare. It is a congruent conflation (two idioms mixed with the same meaning) of “sticks in (one’s) craw” and “gets under (someone’s) skin”, both referring to something that is irritating or bothersome to someone.
So what’s a craw?
A craw is the crop of a bird or insect, the transferred sense of the word to refer to a person’s gullet (Free Dictionary). Perhaps Mr. Rothman is a Frank Sinatra fan, thinking of the song “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”. A big thanks to Frank King for hearing this one!
He’s crazy as a bat
Posted: March 21, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: batshit crazy, crazy as a loon, crazy like a fox, expressions, malaphor, malaphors, Trump, words Leave a commentYou can guess who the speaker was referring to. This is a nice congruent conflation of “crazy as a bedbug (or loon)” and “batshit crazy”, both describing someone who is insane. “Bats in the belfry” also come to mind, although that is an old-fashioned phrase. “Crazy like a fox” (clever) might have been in the mix, but I doubt it based on the person the speaker was referring to. Hint: he denigrates war heroes, and even when they’re dead.
It’s a collusion witch hoax
Posted: March 12, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Donald Trump, expressions, hoax, humor, language, malaphor, Trump, witch hunt, words Leave a commentThis one is self-evident – spoken by Trump to the press on March 8 after the Manafort sentencing. This is a conflation of “witch hunt” (an attempt to blame and punish people who hold unpopular views and opinions, often under the guise of some other investigation) and “hoax” (to trick into believing as genuine something false). Maybe it was used intentionally as shorthand talk, like “Tim Apple”. A big thanks to Frank King for spotting this timely one.
Tie the tea leaves together
Posted: March 5, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, Here and Now, humor, language, malaphor, Mueller, NPR, read the tea leaves, tie it all together, Trump, words Leave a comment.This was heard on NPR’s “Here and Now” show. A pundit was talking about trying to predict what the Mueller investigation report will be like, based on all the information that has been released so far. It is a mashup of “reading the tea leaves” (predicting on little bits of information) and “tie it all together” (finish it up neatly). “Tie up loose ends” (resolve some issues at the end that are not critical) might also be in the mix. Tea leaves seem to confuse folks. Previous malaphors have included “reading between the tea leaves” https://malaphors.com/2017/03/27/reading-between-the-tea-leaves/ and “read between the tea lines” https://malaphors.com/2019/01/24/i-wish-i-could-read-between-the-tea-lines/. A tip of the hat to John Costello for hearing this one!
They would jump on a bullet for him
Posted: February 25, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: congruent conflation, expressions, fall on a grenade, funny, humor, idioms, malaphor, take a bullet for, Trump, words Leave a commentThis was uttered when discussing the blind loyalty of Trump supporters. It is a congruent conflation of “take a bullet for (someone)” and “falling (or jumping) on a grenade for (someone)”, both meaning to accept a personally harmful or sacrificial task to protect someone else. Jumping on a bullet doesn’t seem like a great sacrifice to me, so perhaps this speaker was not such a loyal follower. A big thanks to John Kooser for hearing this one.
Starting to make a turn back?
Posted: January 30, 2019 Filed under: WORD BLENDS | Tags: humor, language, malaphor, Trump, wordplay, words Leave a commentThis is a word blend of “”turnaround” ( a complete change in opinion or method) and “comeback” (a return to popularity). As I have noted before in previous posts, malaphors can be word blends or idiom blends. The word blend seems to be a less common phenomenon.
This is the big, 40,000 foot question
Posted: January 28, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 000 dollar question, 000 foot view, expressions, Here and Now, humor, idioms, malaphor, NPR, Roger Stone, the 10, the 64, Tim Mak, Trump, wordplay, words Leave a commentTim Mak, NPR political reporter on the NPR radio show, Here and Now, was discussing the recent indictment of Roger Stone. He was retelling what was in the indictment, but questioning what evidence Special Counsel Robert Mueller has in his possession. This gem can be heard at 5:15 of the following:
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/01/25/roger-stone-indicted
This is a wonderful conflation of “the 64,000 dollar question” (a question very important and/or difficult to answer) and “the 10,000 (or sometimes 20, 30, or 40,000) foot view” (a description of a problem or issue that provides general information, but short on details). Idioms containing numbers are often jumbled. I have posted some other great ones, such as “hindsight is 50/50” (https://malaphors.com/2016/12/20/hindsight-is-5050/) and “we were 3 sheets passing in the night” (https://malaphors.com/2016/10/25/we-were-3-sheets-passing-in-the-night/). A big thanks to Tom Justice for hearing this one and sending it in!
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