Sunday, February 11, 2024

A Few Flips of the Tongue, 2024

It's close to a year since I've done a Flips of the Tongue post (here's the last one). I don't accumulate them quite as fast as I used to.

Wrong on the concept

This could be the death nail: I saw this in a Twitter thread. It's is a particularly interesting misuse, since it crosses "death knell" with "dead as a door nail." Does that make it an eggcorn?

Off the cusp: I saw this in an email from a friend. 

A tone death interview: Also in a Twitter comment, this time about an NPR story. It's the type of misuse that you almost think could be insultingly on purpose, but then... nah.

Original stuart of this land: Stuart the Steward was always an original kind of guy.

Eco-chamber: Jordan Klepper was being interviewed somewhere and he said "eco-chamber," when clearly he meant was "echo chamber." He was talking about a bunch of Trump supporters, so the idea of them being trapped in an eco-chamber was particularly amusing.

Mixed up animals

Following a dead horse to water: Daughter Number 3.1 sent me this mixed metaphor after she heard it on an episode of Survivor.

The golden goose that puts all its eggs in a single basket: I heard a person say this during a nonprofit organization's meeting, while talking about a fundraising activity.

I’ve got no dog in this show: I said this unthinkingly, quickly realized it was an incorrect version of the saying, and then thought, Hey, this is the nonviolent version of it. Why not?

Spelling is a lost art

Kakameme instead of cockamamie. I can't remember where I saw that, but I know it took me a while to figure out what word it was supposed to be.

Bell whether instead of bellwether (in a Twitter response).

A yellowed sheath of paper: from a published Pioneer Press story. Was it supposed to be sheet or sheaf? Either way, I found myself imagining someone pulling a sword from a paper sheath. Would that give you a paper cut?


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