# Mangled idioms **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 15, 2015, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718 "2015-10-15T13:49:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/1 "2015-10-15T13:49:18Z")
Thought I did a thread like this several years ago-no dice on a search tho. This is where someone _heard_ the idiom somewhere, but either misheard it, or misinterpreted it (or read it online somewhere where someone else had already mangled it). One I’ve seen twice here this week alone is “shoe-in” when it should be “shoo-in”-I guess they assume that it (whatever it is) is as easy as a foot slipping into footwear, but the actual origin is from “shooing” in someone, as in waving them in (say) the door. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/2 "2015-10-15T15:35:22Z")
[Eggcorns.](http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/3 "2015-10-15T18:12:05Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > … but the actual origin is from “shooing” in someone, as in waving them in (say) the door. I didn’t know that. I always assumed it was a mangling of “a sure win.” Actually, I’ve only ever heard of shooing people \*out \*or _away_, never _in_. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/4 "2015-10-15T18:19:43Z")
From the late Yogi Berra: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/5 "2015-10-15T18:28:00Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > [Eggcorns.](http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/) I was gonna say [mondegreens.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen) ---
**Author:** ![Mixolydian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Mixolydian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mixolydian)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/6 "2015-10-15T18:30:58Z")
“In like flint”… On a relational note…[Norm Crosby](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnX-EPaAIdU) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/7 "2015-10-15T18:57:32Z")
**"The Bearded Pope"** Context: Way back in High School, some guys were sitting around talking about prurient shit like kids do, using crude language and euphemisms for jerking off and sex. This girl sitting in front of them turns around and yells, “Would you guys knock off all this talk about The Bearded Pope!” She got “the bearded clam” and “bashing the bishop” all mixed up. We fell about the place! If that chick don’t wanna know, forget her! ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/8 "2015-10-15T20:01:15Z")
For a long time, I always said “let’s play it by year”. Yeah, “ear” makes much more sense. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/9 "2015-10-15T21:32:15Z")
My boss sent an e-mail containing the phrase “for all intense purposes”. I have no idea if the mangle was intentional. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/10 "2015-10-15T22:03:06Z")
Years ago when I was looking to buy my first home, I saw a property advertised as a nice _Pierre de terre._ ---
**Author:** ![WildBlueYonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WildBlueYonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildBlueYonder)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/11 "2015-10-16T12:16:34Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > My boss sent an e-mail containing the phrase “for all intense purposes”. I have no idea if the mangle was intentional. ah…glad I was not the only one years ago that did not know the correct idiom! worked either way for me until just now… ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/12 "2015-10-16T14:24:07Z")
I had a boss who said in a meeting “we don’t want the cart wagging the dog”. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/13 "2015-10-16T15:28:59Z")
Comedian Dave Gorman had an episode on this topic in his (excellent, go and watch it now) show, “Modern Life is Goodish” recently. Based on one he’d found, he labelled them “catphrases”. He found in the wild: It’s a doggy dog world Like a bowl in a china shop\* Escape goat Right from the gecko \*Some people were using this to mean what it appears to mean - boring, mundane, unexceptional. Which is quite the reverse from the original. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/14 "2015-10-16T17:44:45Z")
I had a work buddy with whom I played a fair amount of chess many years ago. He either had never known what “kosher” meant or felt that it was a mispronunciation of “cultured” so when he would comment on something “not being _cultured_” it was hard to decipher what he really meant. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/15 "2015-10-16T17:47:25Z")
Mute point. Take it for granite. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/16 "2015-10-16T17:48:59Z")
It irrationally pisses me off when people say “The proof is in the pudding,” instead of “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/17 "2015-10-16T17:54:27Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > Right from the gecko Isn’t that where you can get cheap car insurance? ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/18 "2015-10-16T18:12:57Z")
“It’s not rocket surgery” ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/19 "2015-10-16T18:19:06Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > I had a work buddy with whom I played a fair amount of chess many years ago. He either had never known what “kosher” meant or felt that it was a mispronunciation of “cultured” so when he would comment on something “not being _cultured_” it was hard to decipher what he really meant. He wasn’t by any chance from Russian roots, I suppose? I gather that in the earlier decades of the USSR, a thing in the then regime’s jargon arose from its wish for the people to become cultured: “nye-kulturny” (“non-cultured”) was a much used across-the-board term of disapproval. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718/20 "2015-10-16T18:28:23Z")
Okay is it “hear, hear” or “here, here”? Because to me “hear, hear” is correct - as in, “listen to what is being said!” and “here, here” bugs me. But then again “here, here” could be like “I understand what you’re saying over here.” Is it an either/or thing? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mangled-idioms/734718.md?page=2)