this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2024
127 points (99.2% liked)

Ask Lemmy

27240 readers
2121 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Like "does the Pope shit in the woods?" or "that train has sailed?"

Also, what good examples can you think of?

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] SatyrSack@lemmy.one 96 points 2 months ago (3 children)
[–] tal@lemmy.today 40 points 2 months ago (2 children)

See also as related:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen

A mondegreen (/ˈmɒndɪˌɡriːn/ ⓘ) is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning.[1] Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to hear a lyric clearly, substitutes words that sound similar and make some kind of sense.[2][3] The American writer Sylvia Wright coined the term in 1954, recalling a childhood memory of her mother reading the Scottish ballad "The Bonnie Earl o' Moray", and mishearing the words "laid him on the green" as "Lady Mondegreen".

and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malapropism

A malapropism (/ˈmæləprɒpɪzəm/; also called a malaprop, acyrologia, or Dogberryism) is the incorrect use of a word in place of a word with a similar sound, either unintentionally or for comedic effect, resulting in a nonsensical, often humorous utterance. An example is the statement attributed to baseball player Yogi Berra, regarding switch hitters, "He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious",[1] with the accidental use of amphibious rather than the intended ambidextrous. Malapropisms often occur as errors in natural speech and are sometimes the subject of media attention, especially when made by politicians or other prominent individuals.

[–] sp3tr4l@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (9 children)

Though this is not for idiomatic phrases, there's also misnomer, for when something is named in a misleading or inappropriate manner.

Though, different dictionaries seem to give different scope to what can and cannot be considered a misnomer, and others place different emphasis on precisely how the name is wrong qualifies it as a misnomer.

Cambridge lists 'dry cleaning' as an example, a process that involves liquid and is thus antithetical.

The focus is on something being named such that the obvious, plain reading of it implies the precise opposite.

Merriam Webster lists that its a misnomer to call a farmer a peasant, which is not antithetical but more along the lines of being rude, out of date.

Their conception of it is fairly broad: any name that is inaccurate for basically any reason, or even just a word that has offensive connotations due to inaccuracy.

Dictionary.com uses the examples of Chinese Checkers, a funny bone, and hay fever.

They focus the definition on the factual/historical inaccuracy of the term:

Chinese Checkers did not originate in China, a funny bone is actually a nerve, not a bone, and hay fever is not caused by hay, nor is it a fever.

load more comments (9 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] jakemehoff11@lemmy.world 18 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Good pull. Malapropism has always been one of my favorite words and comedic devices, so this is good info. Bravo!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go read an article about the Women's Lubrication movement and eat my hot astronomy on rye.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] MyNameIsRichard@lemmy.ml 58 points 2 months ago (4 children)

We'll drive off that bridge when we get to it

[–] neo2478@sh.itjust.works 67 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I usually go with “We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it”

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] billiam0202@lemmy.world 33 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I can't believe you got such a simple saying wrong. It's not rocket surgery.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Krejall@ttrpg.network 17 points 2 months ago

I like "we'll burn that bridge when we come to it"

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Gingerlegs@lemmy.world 38 points 2 months ago (4 children)

My buddy and I have a whole list of these…I started calling them masonism’s because he messes them up so often lol

“I don’t give a shit if he wrote the Mona Lisa!”

“I’m not attached to my hip!”

“I’m taking my own life…into my own hands!”

“How’s that for apples?”

“There’s not enough meat to play with”

“That’s a hit…and a miss!”

“If it weighs anything to you….”

“Jesus Christ! That’s slave robbery!

“Welp, I’m going to get hard at work”

“I’m making shit up out of my ass.”

“He was flopping back and forth” (flip flopping)

“I’m going to go tell this kid a piece of my mind…”

“Oh, here you go….you’re going to piss on my parade!”

“Don’t count your chickens before they turn into eggs.”

“Well isn’t that the horse calling the kettle black”

“Does a fat kid shit in the woods?”

“I can sleep through a rock!”

Ibanez AZ series guitars? Yea I know them like they’re in the back of my hand…”

“There’s a lot of onions to that…”

“I’m pulling it off my head”

“Knock the balls off!

-knock it out of the park/socks off

“That’s a double sided sword!”

 

“You can’t lead a horse to fish…”

[–] ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago

“Well isn’t that the horse calling the kettle black”

I love this.

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago (2 children)

“Welp, I’m going to get hard at work”

Umm... Yeah, that TOTALLY never actually happens to me either.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Bahnd@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

Im stealing these.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 34 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

A malapropism? Does that apply? 🤔

That's like if you said "mute point" instead of "moot point."

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago (3 children)

moo point.

you know, the kind of thing a cow would say.

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 5 points 2 months ago

How you mooin'? 😎

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] PennyRoyal@sh.itjust.works 33 points 2 months ago (3 children)

How the hell should I know, I’m not a rocket surgeon

[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 16 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] sp3tr4l@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Arguably, a mechanic who is literally performing maintenance on exceptionally mechanically dense and complex parts of a rocket, say the rocket engine plumbing or wiring harnesses... is figuratively performing rocket surgery.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 27 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago

You could and you should!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] distantsounds@lemmy.world 22 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Get two birds stoned at once

[–] Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I like, "get two birds stoned with one bush" as some bastard amalgamation of "kill two birds with one stone" and "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] SteveDinn@lemmy.ca 22 points 2 months ago (5 children)

"It's not rocket surgery."

This one irks me. Combination of "rocket scientist" and "brain surgery".

[–] Donebrach@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago

Nothing holds a bar to this as being my favorites, but I generally don’t pay much mind to idioms—they’re all water under a duck’s back.

[–] twig@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 2 months ago

I'm personally a fan of "it's not rocket appliances"

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] unmagical@lemmy.ml 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)
  • The grass is always greener in the hand.
  • You can lead a horse to water, but you can't look it in its mouth.
  • We'll burn that bridge when we come to it.
  • Caught with his pants in the cookie jar.
[–] Klear@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

That last one... goddamn, that's amazing.

[–] Seraph@fedia.io 13 points 2 months ago (3 children)

"Not the brightest cookie in the crayon box" is an amalgamation of 3 different sayings I've been trying to make happen. It won't happen.

[–] davidgro@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

My mom was fond of "Not the brightest egg in the drawer".

[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

I used to say not the sharpest cookie in the jar

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] cabron_offsets@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago

One of my standbys is “that horse has sailed”.

[–] thenextguy@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'm running around like a chicken with its legs cut off.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] twig@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 2 months ago

It's often called an eggcorn, and here's a really good video that touches on it: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JTslqcXsFd4&pp=ygUMRWdnY29ybiBlcmlr

The weirdest one I used to hear often was "for all intensive purposes," like wtf is an intensive purpose?

[–] bitchkat@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago

It's not rocket surgery.

[–] zcd@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 months ago

The correct term is Rickyism

[–] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 9 points 2 months ago

Does a bear shit in the Pope’s hat?

[–] ShurtBert@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

"The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb." Meaning contracts, friendships, and keeping promises should take priority over family loyalty.

Now changed to "Blood is thicker than water" and means the exact opposite of the original.

[–] ThePantser@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

People in glass houses shouldn't get stoned

[–] kikutwo@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

"I'm lost for words"

[–] cowboydiplomat@startrek.website 6 points 2 months ago

I like ‘bob’s your oyster’ because both original phrases are nonsensical to me. Is there a word isometric to portmanteau but for phrases / idioms?

[–] emmanuel_car@fedia.io 6 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Not the brightest bulb in the shed

[–] boatswain@infosec.pub 7 points 2 months ago

In a similar vein, "not the sharpest spoon in the drawer"

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›