# What's your favourite mangled metaphor? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 9, 2005, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-mangled-metaphor/311741 "2005-07-09T13:14:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Thylacinewas\_taken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@Thylacinewas\_taken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacinewas_taken)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-mangled-metaphor/311741/41 "2005-07-11T23:06:46Z")
George Dubya has had some good ones, like “Sometimes it’s hard to put food on your family”. I found the following poem on the internet at [http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,807587,00.html](http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,807587,00.html) I think we all agree, the past is over. This is still a dangerous world. It’s a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses. Rarely is the question asked Is our children learning? Will the highways of the internet become more few? How many hands have I shaked? They misunderestimate me. I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity. I know that the human being and the fish can coexist. Families is where our nation finds hope, where our wings take dream. Put food on your family! Knock down the tollbooth! Vulcanize society! Make the pie higher! Make the pie higher! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-mangled-metaphor/311741/42 "2005-07-12T00:23:52Z")
I’ve been saying “That’s the way the cookie bounces” since high school, so… twenty years or so? > [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it. I’ve been using this one for years also. Just said it yesterday afternoon, in fact. Don’t recall where I first heard it. And like you, nobody ever actually calls me on it, but I sometimes get an odd look. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-mangled-metaphor/311741/43 "2005-07-12T00:27:12Z")
I know I’ve posted these before, but every opportunity I get, they make me giggle to pass on: From my roommate: “Never lick a gift horse in the mouth.” “That’s an old wise tale.” “She has to go through the whole rigor mortis [rigamarole].” “I’ll kick his ass to next Tuesday. He’ll get there by Wednesday.” Man. The mind wobbles. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-mangled-metaphor/311741/44 "2005-07-12T01:38:00Z")
I’ve no time for this drivel! I’ve got places to go and people to kill. That’s a horse of a different garage. And thanks to Zippy the Pinhead ©®™: If you can’t say something nice, at least say something surreal. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-mangled-metaphor/311741/45 "2005-07-12T03:11:03Z")
One of my favorites is from _Frasier_: Niles: “He’s not the brightest bulb in the bulb box.” ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-mangled-metaphor/311741/46 "2005-07-12T03:38:47Z")
Ah, but a man’s grasp should exceed his reach, or else, what’s a metaphor. ---
**Author:** ![Large\_Marge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/50afbb/32.png) [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-mangled-metaphor/311741/47 "2005-07-12T04:44:33Z")
I heard someone say yesterday, “I can kill two birds with one bush!” apparently mixing “Kill two birds with one stone” and “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-mangled-metaphor/311741/48 "2005-07-12T04:52:00Z")
I’m always amused by people who refer to something as “the thin \*edge \* of the wedge”. It simply doesn’t make any sense. I think they mean “the thin \*end \* of the wedge”. ---
**Author:** ![VegemiteMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/df788c/32.png) [@VegemiteMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VegemiteMoose)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-mangled-metaphor/311741/49 "2005-07-12T05:05:14Z")
Maybe you’re thinking of a different meaning of the word wedge.[link](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=wedge) ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-mangled-metaphor/311741/50 "2005-07-12T07:58:59Z")
I use “You can’t pull the wool out from under my nose!” I _think_ I made it up but some of the people who’ve heard me say it say that I probably absorbed it from a cartoon. What ever. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-mangled-metaphor/311741/51 "2005-07-12T08:29:59Z")
“This opens up a whole new kettle of worms” I use this one now and again, fully cognisant of the mixed metaphor - invariably someone will try to correct (what they perceive to be) my mistake. ---
**Author:** ![primer\_dimer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@primer\_dimer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/primer_dimer)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-mangled-metaphor/311741/52 "2005-07-12T11:51:58Z")
“He’s going to have to pull some socks out of the bag” “That’s a fly in the pigment” “That guy’s gay as a post” All by (different!) flatmates I’ve had over the years ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-mangled-metaphor/311741/53 "2005-07-12T16:48:38Z")
Remember, Rome wasn’t burned in a day. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-mangled-metaphor/311741/54 "2005-07-12T16:54:50Z")
“Wanna go see that new Tom Cruise movie?” “I wouldn’t go to see that movie with a ten foot pole!” ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-mangled-metaphor/311741/55 "2005-07-12T17:03:08Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > Second favorite response: “When the pain is gone, it won’t be there anymore”. Now that’s a Yogism ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-mangled-metaphor/311741/56 "2005-07-12T17:46:46Z")
This sort of makes my head explode. Because it’s correct in its own right - A bad analogy is like a pair of pants. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-mangled-metaphor/311741/57 "2005-07-12T18:19:42Z")
I always liked this one, which I think was from the old Bloom County comic strip: “That’s no skin off my stiff upper lip.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-mangled-metaphor/311741.md?page=2)