Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Flips of the Tongue, 2011 - 2013

It's been a long time since I've written about flips of the tongue, funny things I've seen in informal writing or heard people say. I've been accumulating more of them, though, so here's a list.

Danger, Will Rogers. Who knew Oklahoma's Favorite Son was lost in space?

Minor potatoes, which must be the slightly larger but still under-age cousin of small potatoes.

Jumping through loops. Sounds easier than hoops, maybe a bit like jumping rope?

Pivotal milestone. Watch out for the rotation! This came out of the mouth of MPR reporter Mark Zdechlik, August 2011, while covering Tim Pawlenty in Iowa.

A much wider swatch of people - Written (and not corrected to this day) by Maggie Koerth-Baker in a 2011 Boing Boing story about journalist credentials. Even using "swath" in this context seems like stretching the meaning too far, since swath means a "row or line of grass, grain, or other crop as it lies when mown or reaped."

A door in the foothold. Said by a guest on MPR, April 18, 2012, in a show about the annoyingly named "mommy wars."

Toss in the hat when "throw in the towel" was meant. Obviously a confusion with throw your hat into the ring.

800-pound elephant in the room -- yeah, yeah, it's supposed to be an 800-pound gorilla or an elephant in the room. But I got so much enjoyment out of visualizing a diminutive 800-pound elephant (which weigh 6,000 - 15,000 pounds) that I almost didn't mind.

I had a pit in my stomach. Everyone does, but it's not the pit you're thinking of. From an interview with a Mitchell, S.D., corn palace artist on the Colbert Report, October 18, 2012.

Too many cooks and not enough Indians. From a client voicemail, describing their decision-making process during a design project.


Past Flips of the Tongue:

December 2007
January 2008
March 2008
June 2008
December 2008
December 2010

1 comment:

Cathy, the Nice Lice Lady. said...

My mother, Myrna, used to say, "In one ear and half a dozen of the other."