I like to say "that’s the whole ball of worms (or can of wax), but people look at me like I’m some kind of idiot.
Okay, so I am.
Hey, this ain’t rocket surgery.
Heard at previous jobs (Business-ese is full of these things):
“It’s all the same, 6 dozen of one, half of another”
The unfortunate combining of the cliches “Hit the ground running” (move quickly on the project) and “We’ve hit the wall” (our resources are streached as far as they can go) once had our director of IS attempt to inspire us by telling us that on this new project we’d “hit the wall running.” Ouch.
This is more fun than a barrel full of early birds!
A rolling stone gathers no worms, so don’t count your chickens before someone pees on your Wheaties, or I’ll beat you like a rubber check.
You know, some of you folks are no spring chickens with their heads cut off.
If you can’t take the heat, get out of the watched pot.
To quote Bif from Back to the Future, “…make like a tree and get out of here…”
My favorite (until I saw this thread):
You can lead a horse of a different color to water, but you can’t look in his mouth.
And from Opus (Bloom County):
You can lead a gift horse to water, but you can’t make a silk purse out of a pig in a poke!
Oops, he got it right, I got it wrong.
I like using mixed metaphors, because they make people stop and think, “did she mean to say that, or is she just not the sharpest knife on the tree?”
Keep your eye to the grindstone.
Keep your nose on the ball.
Not the brightest bulb in the drawer.
I had a friend who would say “Perish forbid!”
Instead of Preish the thought or heaven forbid
Herman Munster, of that fun old TV program, often mixed metaphors. One of my faves was “Behind every dark cloud lies the bluebird of happiness, waiting for the Robert E. Lee.”
Goodman Ace, who I think also wrote for the better magazines (when there used to be better magazines) like the SATURDAY REVIEW wrote a radio show called EASY ACES that was on in the 40’s and 50’s or so. It featured his wife Jane, who was always making mixed metaphors and hilarious malapropisms.
I send out the call for any that anybody remembers or for where to get tapes of this old show. Jane’s husband’s sister I think it was was Marge, who was boarding with them, and she had a very nice, rich laugh. Jane’s most memorable metaphor was, “like a chicken with its hat off.”
Thank you, from my bottom and my heart.
We must not allow ourselves to be stampeded into stagnation.
It is metaphorical that: The proof is in the pudding!
Maybe I’m just strange, but I would indeed like to see bugs get burnt by a hot iron.
Especially fire ants!
Hi all,
Long time listener, first time caller. I couldn’t resist when the topic is mixed metaphors!
Please check out our little tribute to the mixed metaphor, and post one while you’re there.
http://members.aol.com/mixedmetaphors
-Ryan
that hit the nail right between the eyes.
In a book titled The Art of Plain Talk, Dr. Rudolph Fleisch (Why Johnny Can’t Read) includes this one he found in an article about agricultural and social problems during World War II:
(quote) “…black sheep ducking disgrace…”
Fleisch comments, "Ah! The perfect mixed metaphor at last. 
And my favorite two have been, and will always be:
“Talk about rubbing salt in the fire!”
and,
“Hey, it ain’t exactly rocket surgery!”
Most assuredly.
Okay let’s see if i can think of one of these “mix-ed metaphors” for myself. How about…It takes a wise man to know when he’s been spoiling the broth that’s harder to find than a needle in a public toilet?
well, i recently mentioned this one in another thread, but my all-time most favoritest mixed metaphore is:
“We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it”
apologies if it’s already been mentioned here…
-luckie
The best mixed metaphor I’ve ever heard was coined by a friend of mine:
“people who live in glass houses shouldn’t copulate before sundown”
this is not a mixed metaphor, but a lovely little mixed rhetorical question from The Big Lebowski:
“Does the pope shit in the woods?”
Fuck. Time to update my signature.