Flips of the Tongue, 2019

I don't have a lot of time today, since I'm busy with one of my many mysterious volunteer commitments, so I thought I would share the short list of eggcorns, mixed metaphors and assorted funny usages I've accumulated since my last post on that topic. I swear I literally (not figuratively) either heard or read each of these with my own ears or eyes.

The cart before the egg—I think I heard this on NPR or MPR. What a great mixed metaphor. Maybe the chicken is riding in the cart while it crosses the road? Or while its eggs are hatching? Maybe the horse is sitting on the eggs to get them to hatch. Just think of the possibilities.

Silver bullet Hail Mary—When your bullets aren't good enough to kill the vampires, you send your passes through the Virgin Mary, or... something.

By enlarge—A classic eggcorn. And because of this, I now know that the proper phrase, by and large, is "originally a sailing term meaning 'alternately close-hauled and not close-hauled.' A ship that is sailing 'close-hauled' is sailing as directly into the wind as possible (typically within about 45 degrees of the wind)" (according to Merriam-Webster).

Chastise pronounced shastize—I'm not sure if I heard this on television or radio; the fact that I don't have a source note makes me think I heard it on the radio while in the car. This pronunciation error is understandable, in my opinion, since many of us learn our big words from reading, and chastise does derive from French... so why did we somehow begin to pronounce the ch- like chair instead of shower anyway?

Piece of mind—It was clear in the context (since lost in my bad note-taking) that the speaker or writer meant peace of mind, rather than piece of my mind. I think this is a pretty common error, and I'm not sure it's interesting enough to qualify as an eggcorn.

Step on their parade—Oh ha ha ha. I get such a great visual from this!

That doesn't hold much muster—I heard this just a few days ago from another NPR or MPR speaker, somehow combining cutting the mustard, passing muster, and holding... something? Water? Pretty great!