Malaphor

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A malaphor is a type of phrase where a malapropism and a metaphor have been combined, for the purpose of either humour or to create a new metaphor entirely.

Etymology

The first recorded use of the word comes from an article in the Washington Post titled "Searching for Malaphors", written by Lawrence Harrison in 1976.

Examples

• "We'll burn that bridge when we come to it" (burning bridges and we'll cross that bridge when we come to it)
• "It takes a village to raise an idiot" (it takes a village to raise a child and village idiot)
• "Bob's your oyster" (Bob's your uncle and the world is your oyster)
• "That's a tough nut to swallow" (that's a tough nut to crack and a hard pill to swallow)
• "Even a watched pot will boil twice a day" (a watched pot never boils and a stopped clock is right twice a day)
• "You either die a lemon, or you live long enough to see yourself become the lemonade" (you either die a hero... (popularised by The Dark Knight) and when life gives you lemons, make lemonade)

References

This article "Malaphor" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Malaphor. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

📰 Article(s) of the same category(ies)

• Expressive loan
• Wiktionary

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