George Washingtonhouse
Posted: October 17, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, Frick, humor, malaphors, Westinghouse, WORD BLENDS, words 1 CommentOn a tour of the Frick mansion (Clayton) in Pittsburgh, I overheard this single word blend from someone asking a question about George Westinghouse’s relationship with Frick. Instead of Westinghouse the person said Washingtonhouse, a blend of George Washington and George Westinghouse. I have posted a few word blends of people and places before. Favorites include Buckminster Palace, Wegners, Stormy McDaniels, and Strunk and Wagnalls. https://malaphors.com/2012/12/17/we-went-to-buckminster-palace/ https://malaphors.com/2022/08/17/wegners/ https://malaphors.com/2018/08/23/stormy-mcdaniels/ https://malaphors.com/2018/11/26/you-can-look-it-up-in-your-strunk-and-wagnalls/
Tagphrase
Posted: July 7, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphors, WORD BLENDS, words 2 CommentsTwo brothers were talking about an old commercial, and one said “Oh yes, I remember that tagphrase.” This is a word blend congruent conflation of “catch phrase” and “tag line”, both referring to a sentence or phrase reiterated and identified with a person or company. Single word blend malaphors are unconscious blends of words to make an unintentional new word. The word sounds or looks correct at first blush, but then on closer examination is incorrect. Examples include “Buckminster Palace” (Buckingham and Westminster, and/or possibly Buckminster Fuller) and “split-minute decision” (split second and last minute). Read my book, “He Smokes Like a Fish and other Malaphors“, to understand the difference between a word blend malaphor and a portmanteau.
A big thanks to Martin Pietrucha for unintentionally uttering this one and promptly sending it in!
Go take a shower, greasebag
Posted: March 7, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphors, WORD BLENDS, words Leave a commentEven though he had already taken one, this was uttered by his girlfriend. It is a single word blend of “greaseball” (offensive term for someone from Hispanic or Mediterranean descent) and “dirtbag” (unkempt or unpleasant person). Bags and balls seem to get mixed up. This one is similar to a previous posted word blend, “slimebag”, a combo of “slimeball” and “scumbag”. https://malaphors.com/2013/05/06/the-guys-a-real-slimebag/
A big thanks to Anthony Kovacs for sending this one in!
linchpiece
Posted: February 28, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blog, books, humor, language, life, malaphors, WORD BLENDS, writing Leave a commentThe speaker was thinking about a new exercise to add to his routine, and he said to himself, “this will be the linchpiece of your workout”. This is a word blend congruent conflation of “linchpin” and “centerpiece”, both referring to the most important part of or feature of something.
I have previously discussed the difference between a portmanteau and a word blend malaphor but the above malaphor prompts me to repeat my discussion.
Word blends are types of malaphors and the website and books have many examples.
Someone asked me if my word blend malaphors are actually portmanteaus. I don’t think so. The main difference is that a portmanteau is an intentional word blend while a malaphor is unintentional. There are other differences:
A portmanteau is a combination of two (or more) words or morphemes, and their definitions, into one new word. A portmanteau word generally combines both sounds and meanings, as in smog, coined by blending smoke and fog. More generally, it may refer to any term or phrase that combines two or more meanings, for instance, the term “wurly” when describing hair that is both wavy and curly.
The word “portmanteau” was first used in this context by Lewis Carroll in the book Through the Looking-Glass (1871), in which Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice the coinage of the unusual words in Jabberwocky, where “slithy” means “lithe and slimy” and “mimsy” is “flimsy and miserable”. Humpty Dumpty explains the practice of combining words in various ways by telling Alice,
‘You see it’s like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word.’
My single word blend malaphors are unconscious blends of words to make an unintentional new word. The word sounds or looks correct at first blush, but then on closer examination is incorrect. Examples include “Buckminster Palace” (Buckingham and Westminster, and/or possibly Buckminster Fuller) and “split-minute decision” (split second and last minute).
A big thank you to Martin Pietrucha for sending this one in.
A yankering
Posted: May 8, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: a hankering, a yen, portmanteau, WORD BLENDS Leave a commentA couple were talking about what cocktail to have, and the wife said “I didn’t know what you had a yankering for”. This is a great single word blend AND congruent conflation of “having a yen for” and “having a hankering for”, both meaning to have a strong desire or craving for something.
One may ask, “but Dave, isn’t this a portmanteau”? Not really.
The main difference is that a portmanteau is an intentional word blend while a malaphor is unintentional. There are other differences:
A portmanteau is a combination of two (or more) words or morphemes, and their definitions, into one new word. A portmanteau word generally combines both sounds and meanings, as in smog, coined by blending smoke and fog. More generally, it may refer to any term or phrase that combines two or more meanings, for instance, the term “wurly” when describing hair that is both wavy and curly.
The word “portmanteau” was first used in this context by Lewis Carroll in the book Through the Looking-Glass (1871), in which Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice the coinage of the unusual words in Jabberwocky, where “slithy” means “lithe and slimy” and “mimsy” is “flimsy and miserable”. Humpty Dumpty explains the practice of combining words in various ways by telling Alice,
‘You see it’s like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word.’
My single word blend malaphors are unconscious blends of words to make an unintentional new word. The word sounds or looks correct at first blush, but then on closer examination is incorrect. Examples so far on my website are “Buckminster Palace” (Buckingham and Westminster, and/or possibly Buckminster Fuller) and “split-minute decision” (split second and last minute).
“Yankering” fits the definition of single work blend malaphor. First, it was said unintentionally. Second, the blend did not form a new word. Third, it did not combine two or more meanings. Having said all that, I sure would like to see “yankering” added to the dictionary. Maybe with the definition “a REALLY STRONG desire or craving for something”.
A big thanks to Barry Eigen who heard his wife say this, and knew malaphor gold had struck.
You can look it up in your Strunk and Wagnalls
Posted: November 26, 2018 Filed under: WORD BLENDS | Tags: expressions, Funk and Wagnalls, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, Strunk and White, WORD BLENDS, words Leave a commentNot quite Rowan and Martin. The submitter’s wife uttered this nice word blend, which is a conflation of “Funk and Wagnalls” (dictionary/encyclopedia) and “Strunk and White” (American English writing style guide). The Funk/Strunk rhyming is obviously the culprit here. A big thanks to Martin Pietrucha for hearing this one and sending it in.
If you want to look up “malaphors”, purchase the malaphor book, “He Smokes Like a Fish and other Malaphors”, on Amazon. Makes a great stocking stuffer (or fire starter).
It’s a powerhorse
Posted: May 26, 2018 Filed under: WORD BLENDS | Tags: Bill Goldberg, Forged in Fire, malaphor, malaphors, portmanteau, powerhouse, WORD BLENDS, workhorse Leave a commentBill Goldberg, host of the History Channel’s “Forged in Fire” uttered this word blend malaphor when describing a particular sword. This is a congruent conflation of “powerhouse” and “workhorse”, both describing a person or thing having great energy or strength.
Word blends are a subset of malaphors. They are an unintentional blending of two or more words. If you type word blend in the search engine on this blog or go to the index and scroll down to Word Blends you will see the many word blends I have posted. Some examples are “Buckminster Abbey” (Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey and maybe Buckminster Fuller), and “blinched” (flinched and blinked). The word blend malaphor is different than the portmanteau. A portmanteau is an intentional blend of two words to create a new word with its own definition. An example is smog (fog and smoke). Word blend malaphors are simply mixed up words with no separate definition and are said unintentionally. I hope you enjoyed my wordplay lesson of the day.
A big thank you to Anthony Kovacs for hearing this word blend and sending it in.
I was trying to buttercoat it
Posted: December 10, 2017 Filed under: WORD BLENDS | Tags: butter up, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, sugarcoat, WORD BLENDS, words Leave a commentFrom the submitter: “My coworker just said this when complimenting my singing. He used an expletive the first time, but when he repeated it, he used a euphemism in place of the expletive. When I said, “That’s not what you said before,” he said he was trying to buttercoat it, not realizing that he was mixing two expressions. When I told him that what he just said is a malaphor of butter up and sugarcoat, he said that it perfectly conveyed his sentiment.”
This is a great word blend of “sugarcoat” (palatable, or easy to take) and “butter up” (to be nice to someone by flattery or other means). I think this should be a new phrase in the lexicon, and the above situation is a great example. A big thanks to Diana for sharing this one!
Bockage
Posted: June 24, 2017 Filed under: WORD BLENDS | Tags: box, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, package, portmanteau, WORD BLENDS Leave a commentThe speaker meant to say “package” but this came out. It is a nice word blend malaphor of “box” and “package”. Since most packages in the mail now come in boxes, thanks to Amazon and the internet, “bockage” was eventually going to be spit out by someone. And really, isn’t it a nice word? Sounds like the lord of the manor pronouncing “package”. Also could be used when there are delays in shipping: “Sorry, we have a bockage right now”. A big thanks to Martin Pietrucha who accidentally blurted this one out and shared it immediately!
If you like this word blend check out my book on malaphors entitled “He Smokes Like a Fish and other Malaphors”, available on Amazon. Just click this link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0692652205. There’s a whole chapter devoted to word blends, which are not portmanteaus, by the way (explanation in the book!).
Hillary Clinton is in the process of refudiating everything that Mr. Trump says
Posted: September 19, 2016 Filed under: WORD BLENDS | Tags: Donald Trump, expressions, Hardball, Hillary Clinton, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, MSNBC, refuting, repudiating, Sean Jackson, WORD BLENDS, words 1 CommentThis nice word blend malaphor was uttered by Sean Jackson, chairman of the Florida Black Republican Caucus and Trump supporter, on MSNBC’s Hardball. Mr. Jackson stated, “Hillary Clinton is in the process of refudiating everything that Mr. Trump says by trying to make him out to be the bigot.” See http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/hardball/2016-08-26
This is a mash up of “repudiating” (rejecting the validity or authority) and “refuting” (proving or saying that something is not true). Word blend malaphors are an interesting subset of idiom blend malaphors. There are quite a few posted on this website. A shout out to Sam Edelmann who heard this one and passed it on!
If you liked this malaphor from the political world, you will want to get the book “He Smokes Like a Fish and other Malaphors”, available on Amazon! There is a whole chapter devoted to mash ups from politics.
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