He was taken to the carpet
Posted: January 27, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: called on the carpet, expressions, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, Meet the Press, Mike Braun, taken to the cleaners, Trump, words Leave a commentSenator Mike Braun, Republican from Indiana, uttered this one on Meet the Press yesterday. He was talking about Trump and the effect impeachment will have on him. It is a mashup of “called on the carpet” (to reprimand someone) and “taken to the cleaners” (to swindle someone or to soundly defeat someone). My guess is that the Senator was thinking of carpet cleaning. He also may have been thinking of the idiom “taken to the mat”(to confront or argue with someone), given mats and carpets are both floor coverings. A big thanks to Elaine Hatfield and Mike Kovacs who heard this one and sent it in.
This is not coming out of whole cloth
Posted: January 22, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: coming out of left field, expressions, humor, Lev Parnas, malaphor, Morning Joe, out of whole cloth, Trump, Willie Geist, words Leave a commentWillie Geist on MSNBC’s Morning Joe said this one, discussing Lev Parnas’ statements to Rachel Maddow. It is a nice congruent conflation of “coming out of left field” and ” made out of whole cloth”, both meaning something utterly false or fictional. “Out of” is in both phrases, contributing to the mixup. A tip of the hat to Donna Calvert who heard this one and immediately contacted Malaphor Central.
I’m not the sharpest tack in the drawer
Posted: January 20, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphor, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, sharp as a tack, words Leave a commentThe speaker was not feeling well and mentioned to someone about her mental acuity for the day. This is an incongruent conflation (opposite meanings) of “not the sharpest knife in the drawer” (not very smart) and “sharp as a tack” (intelligent and quick thinking). As everyone knows, there are many expressions out there describing the dull witted individual, and these expressions are often mixed up. I have posted several of these mashups, including “not the brightest tool in the shed”, https://malaphors.com/2013/06/24/not-the-brightest-tool-in-the-shed/, “not the sharpest bulb in the shed”, https://malaphors.com/2017/08/03/not-the-sharpest-bulb-in-the-shed/, and “not the brightest knife in the drawer”, https://malaphors.com/2018/02/14/hes-not-the-brightest-knife-in-the-drawer/, to name just a few. A big thanks to Yvonne Stam for admitting she uttered this one and realizing it was a malaphor.
Giuliani blew his lid on that
Posted: January 19, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blew his stack, expressions, flipped his lid, humor, language, Lev Parnas, malaphor, Rachel Maddow, Trump, words Leave a commentThis one was uttered by Lev Parnas, Rudy Giuliani’s assistant in the Rachel Maddow interview. Here it is:
Lev was describing Giuliani’s reaction to hearing Ukranian President Zelensky’s decision not to announce an investifation specifically mentioning Joe Biden’s name. It is a nice congruent conflation of ” “flipped his lid” and “blew his top/stack”, both meaning to become extremely angry or mad. A huge thanks to Mike Kovacs for hearing this one and sending it in.
I’m not a poor loser
Posted: January 15, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, language, malaphor, poor sport, sore loser, words Leave a commentYours truly uttered this one in a conversation about a current losing streak in trivia. It is a congruent conflation of “sore loser” and “poor sport”, both describing a person who reacts negatively in a competition. “Poor” and “sore” are similar sounding words, contributing to the mashup. A big thanks to Elaine Hatfield for calling me out on this one.
You hit it right on the point
Posted: January 13, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Andy Brenner, CNBC, expressions, hit the nail on the head, humor, malaphor, On Point, Rick Santelli, words Leave a commentThis one was uttered by Andy Brenner (National Alliance Securities) on CNBC, referring to a comment made by Rick Santelli. It is a congruent conflation of “hit the nail on the head” and “on point”. both meaning to be exactly right, accurate, or perfect. Nails have points so the mental hiccup occurred with that visual, presumably. A big thanks to big brother John Hatfield for hearing this one and sending it in. #RickSantelli #CNBC
That ought to hit the ticket
Posted: January 9, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, hit the mark, humor, language, malaphor, malaphors, punch one's ticket, words Leave a commentThis was said, referring to something that should be successful. It is a congruent conflation of “hit the mark” and “punch (one’s) ticket”, both meaning an action that leads to success (the latter to a promotion usually). Hit the ticket has a nice ring to it. A big thanks to Martin Pietrucha for texting this one and realizing it was a malaphor.
I know the material off the back of my hand
Posted: January 6, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, like the back of my hand, malaphor, off the top of my head, words Leave a commentA daughter was telling her father about a recent test. This is a mashup of “know it like the back of my hand” (extremely familiar with something) and “off the top of my head” (from memory without careful consideration). Either this is a malaphor or maybe she actually had the materials written on her hand? A big thanks to John Kooser for hearing this one.
A lot of Senators have reserved their fire
Posted: January 4, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, hold your fire, humor, idioms, Jonathan Alleno, malaphor, reserve judgment, words Leave a comment
You put your finger on the nail
Posted: January 2, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor, language, malaphor, words, you hit the nail on the head, you nailed it, you put your finger on it Leave a comment2020 has started off on the right foot, malaphor wise. On New Year’s Day, Christiane Amanpour said this beauty on CNN’s “New Day”. Let’s go to the transcript:
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/2001/01/nday.04.html
It is a congruent conflation of “put your finger on it” and hit the nail on the head” (and “nailed it”), all meaning to describe a situation or problem exactly. The speaker might have been thinking of fingernails when she uttered this one. A big thanks to Ruth Dilts for nailing this one. @camanpour @NewDay
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