Rocket Surgery and Other Malaphors

[underused]

Have you ever mixed your metaphors?

While not yet in the dictionary, Oxford is tracking a portmanteau to identify the kettle of fish in your wicket: **malaphors**.

The word malaphor is a blend of malapropism, meaning the mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one (and named for Sheridan’s infamous Mrs Malaprop), and metaphor, a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

Along with "rocket surgery," the link offers a few common examples, including ever popular "we'll burn that bridge when we come to it."

Can you think of any you've heard? (I had a friend who used to say he didn't trust someone as far as he could throw a stick at them.) Are there any metaphors you can't keep straight? Or maybe you just want to make some up--it's pretty fun. (This list of cliches could be the bird in the hand that feeds you.)

Let's try for the whole ball of hogs.

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Image by Livi Prendergast for the Oxford Blog

Comments

[thedaughteroftyr]

I definitely use "rocket surgery" but as a deliberate joke.

I'll have to think hard to see if I can recall any others that I have heard. It's been a while I think.

I quite enjoy that there is a word for such slips.

[full_metal_ox]

There's a deliberately constructed one that I got from Peter Praetorious (aka PTOR) of SanctumBlog on Twitter: "feeding two birds with one scone." I don't know whether he's the originator, though.

(PTOR, being devoted to a number of animal-related worthy causes, prefers a more peaceable version of the familiar metaphor.)

[underused]

That's quite perfect. I'm going to try and remember it. Hurray for new (less murderous) cliches!

[full_metal_ox]

Although neither constitutes a malaphor, I've adjusted a couple of stock phrases for similar reasons: "not my monkeys, not my circus" has become "not my clowns, not my circus" (the better to acknowledge--without thoughtlessly dehumanizing them!--that certain demographic groups' internecine conflicts are none of my business) and "having a dog in this fight"--nowadays I prefer to enter my metaphorical dogs in shows.

[underused]

I've never heard the monkeys expression, but clowns seems like a perfectly reasonable substitute. Not too long ago I started to use the "no dog in this fight" expression and stopped myself because it just sounded distasteful. It was one of those moments where I realised how many things had changed in my lifetime. It was quite nice (since it often feels like nothing ever changes).

[underused]

We use the "rocket surgery" one, too--as a joke (whew). But I'm always amused when I hear someone conflate two cliches or misinterpret a common expression. I've definitely done it, too, so it's kind of nice to be reminded we're all fallible together!

[full_metal_ox]

Would you agree with me that "pitch-perfect", despite the phonic similarity, is not a malaphor for "picture-perfect"? The same point is being made; it's simply that a different sense is being invoked.

(I might be inclined to term it an "eggcorn"--a malapropism that, although it's a distortion of the intended word, actually makes sense. The Trope Namer isn't a bad description of the fruit of the oak tree, is it? Another classic example is "Alzheimer's" distorted into "old-timer's disease.")

[underused]

Hm. I don't think malaphors rely on phonic similarity, just a mix of metaphors. I feel like an eggcorn requires a replacement word that's totally wrong and, and since both pitch and picture perfect are fixed expressions, I would say using one in place of the other would simply be an error. It would be like saying "jerry-built" when you mean "jury rigged." (Although as soon as you say "jerry rigged" you're back in malaphor territory. ☺)