Mixed Metaphor

I doubt the MixedMetaphor needs any introduction, but examples can be fun.

Someone I work with, in a meeting the other day talked about being "down to the last wire". A German fellow in the meeting asked what she had said, so she repeated it in all earnestness "down to the last wire" (not putting her down, you understand - I've been guilty of worse).

My wife is famous for mixed metaphors which she never knows she's saying and only recognizes later. We've laughed about some of them for years - especially "That was the last needle on the haystack." If you think about it, that's actually mixing 3 metaphors. Also - "It was the worst craw in my side."

I HaveThisPattern too. --GunnarZarncke

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• This shouldn't take long; after all, it's not RocketSurgery!
• I don't know, Tom, it looks like he's one brick short of a picnic.
• We should probably not open that bag of worms.
• Enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot... (Thanks, Costin!)
• A few marbles short of a full deck.
• Not the sharpest cue ball in the bunch.
• .. in case the proverbial bus should rear its ugly head.
• Let's not stir that bag of worms...

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I smell a rat. I see it hanging in the air and I will nip it in the bud. -- traditional

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See also PrivateEye's legendary "Colemanballs" column: http://www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~heth/funnies/coleman.html

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CategoryMetaphor