All the Als

And now for something Altogether Alternate...

I was just noticing, being Always Alert, that, of the 8 listed contributors thus far, we have an Alex, Alvin and Al. We just need to Allocate an Alan, Albert, Alfonso, Alfred, Ali, Allen, Allie, et Al.

Reminds me of a line from the song "I Couldn't Care Less" by Canadian band The Barenaked Ladies:
"When I grow up I'm going to name my children Alice, Albert, and Alfred.
I'll call them for supper like this: 'Dinner's ready, Als!"

- Matt -

Mixed Metaphors (or Maxims)

Don't blame me, Alex; your gems may have opened a can of chickens coming home to roost--e.g.:

> A pretty kettle of worms
> May the best man hit the ceiling
> A stitch in time can move heaven and earth
> He sank like a tower of strength
> Pride goeth before prejudice

Alvin

Euphemistic expiry by K in Denver

Since Alex is accumulating deathly euphemisms, here are a few fairly old-fashioned contributions:

...turned up his toes
...stuck his spoon in the wall
...pegged out
...joined the great majority
...gave an obolus to Charon
...breathed his last
...left behind this world of woe
...went to his long home
...went to his eternal rest
...paid the debt of nature

I also here submit my favorite excretory euphemism, "to go where even the czar walks" -- an expression which had a number of my college acquaintance saying, "I'll be right back; I'm just going to walk my czar."

But what about more lively euphemisms, such as euphemisms for euphoria, or euphony? There are many expressions, including metaphorical, for these; but are any of those expressions euphemisms?
Can there be a euphemism for something already euphemic in itself?


K in Denver
toes curled under, spoons in drawer, often unpeggable, distinctly among the minority, definitely breathing, reasonably at home in this world and unconvinced that it's inherently woeful, frequently restless, and still in debt (though not to Charon)

The parrot by Izzy Cohen

Pastor Matt wrote:>> Alex's euphewisms (that's a substitute phrase that stinks) remind me of Monty Python's Pet Shop sketch - in which John Cleese returns to a pet shop manned by Michael Palin and complains that his African Grey was only on its perch because it had been nailed there. It had, in fact, joined the choir invisible, met its Maker, passed on, shuffled off this mortal coil; it was, indeed, an ex-parrot. <<

Of course, the standard etymology of parrot is tripe / nonsense. From the Online Etymological Dictionary:
>> parrot c.1525, perhaps from dial. M.Fr. perrot, from var. of Pierre "Peter;" or perhaps a dial. form of perroquet (see parakeet). Replaced earlier popinjay. The verb "repeat without understanding" is first attested 1596. The Ger. naturalist Alexander von Humboldt in S.America 1800 encountered a very old parrot that was the sole speaker of a dead Indian language, the original tribe having gone extinct. <<

Parrot probably has a derivation that is closely related to the verb prate c.1420, from M.Du. praten "to prate" (c.1400), from a W.Gmc. imitative root (cf. M.L.G. praten, M.H.G. braten, Swed. prata "to talk, chatter") ... and the related word prattle = to chatter. Ultimately, it may be a reversal of Greek trop = to turn, return. Yiddish trop is a musical "turning". The parrot returns what you say (without understanding it?). What it says is "tripe" = nonsense.

There may be a semantically similar derivation for the Hebrew word for parrot: TuKi. It seems to be a reversal of KiSHKeSH = to prattle, at a time when the letter shin had a dental D/T-sound. The plural taf-[vav]-kaf-yod-yod-mem TooKiYiM appears in the Old Testament twice: at 2nd Kings 10:22 and as a near repetition at 2nd Chron. 9:21. The customary translation for 2Kings 10:22 is: >> For the king [Solomon] had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram [king of Lebanon]; once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes, and peacocks. <<

I have also seen this word (TooKiYiM) translated as guinea fowl. I suspect those peacocks/guinea fowl were actually parrots because parrots that could "speak" would fetch a much higher price than edible birds that were worth little more than the local 3oF TaRNaGoL = chicken.

Old joke that I'm sure you've heard before:Delivery Boy: I have a parrot for Mr. Poy-rot. Mr. Poirot: It's pronounced pwa-row. Delivery Boy: Forgive me, sir. I have a pwa-row for Mr. Poy-rot.

>> Of course, what with recent events in my life, this thread seems somewhat odd. The Greeks would say the thread had been measured short by Clotho ... <<

The connection between cloth/fabric and falsehood really is ancient. These concepts are near homonyms in Hebrew:BahD = cloth, fabric, BahDaH = a cognate of myth (a false story). He made it up out of whole cloth. There is not a stitch of truth in it. Hans Christian Anderson used this connection in his "Keiserens nye Klæder" (The Emperor's New Clothes) fairy tale.

>> ... and untimely snipped by Atropos, but that's all Greek to me. Matt <<

Which reminds me of this excerpt from my own "Groundhog Day Party":

>> Atropos: I'm here. In a reversal of Fate, I give everyone a Sport-ing chance.Izzy: Do you cast a die? or just a shadow?Atropos: of nothing. Life hangs by a Hare...Grim Reaper: ... that I cut with my scythe.Tortoise: People say I'm an infernal animal. They confuse me with Tartarus. If I were a sea turtle I'd be a martyr.Oyster: Who's going to Host this party?Izzy: I nominate Walt Quader. Where is that guy?Quader: The phrase 'dead as a doornail' appears as though it might be a stubbornly persistent corruption of this disputed fragment from Shakespeare's otherwise lost notebook of sketches for his (alas, also lost) last comedy, 'The Grim Knocker': ...dead, Isadore? / Nay! I'll... -- Walt

ciao,
Izzy

The Pet Shop

Alex's euphewisms (that's a substitute phrase that stinks) remind me of Monty Python's Pet Shop sketch - in which John Cleese returns to a pet shop manned by Michael Palin and complains that his African Grey was only on its perch because it had been nailed there. It had, in fact, joined the choir invisible, met its Maker, passed on, shuffled off this mortal coil; it was, indeed, an ex-parrot.

Of course, what with recent events in my life, this thread seems somewhat odd. The Greeks would say the thread had been measured short by Clotho and untimely snipped by Atropos, but that's all Greek to me.

- Matt -

Casualties of Political Correctness

For some good reasons, metaphors are sometimes intentionally used to avoid the use of the primary terminology. This usage is called euphemism. The topics that are commonly fraught with euphemism are sex, bodily excretions, and death. In recent years euphemism has become widespread by politicians and the politically correct movement.

Below are examples of euphemistic expressions that are used to talk about death. Feel free to add to the list:

Bought the farm
He kicked the bucket
He croaked
Cashed in his chips
Cocked his clogs
Went to his reward
Pushing up daisies
Six feet under
Passed away
He is beyond the grave

Alex - being evasive

Metaphor vs alternate sense

When does a metaphor cease to be a metaphor and becomes intimately associated with the true meaning of the concept? Well it happens when such metaphor is used so frequently that it displaces the original term used to express the thought. For example when we say “his campaign is having a noticeable impact on the Latino vote”, do you really still think of "impact" in that sense as a metaphor for effect? It seems to me that some usages pass from being metaphors to being alternative senses. If your attitude is "once a metaphor, always a metaphor", and you want to avoid mixing metaphors, then you'd have to needlessly restrict your usage of words you'd regard as metaphors. Take for example "the social impact will be very high". High? Surely not. Severe; yes. That is unless we no longer think of impact as metaphor. Another popular example, you'd lose "to exceed (or beat) a target" if for you the only true sense of "target" is that arrangement of colored rings that archers aim at, because "exceeding" it presumably means overshooting it, which is not the desired effect, and "beating" it presumably means striking it, which is rather a silly thing to do.

Alex, racing the clock to beat the deadlines and getting a head spin doing it..

Color my word

Now then, if you have a wicked mind like I do, you would be going around finding metaphorical expressions and mixing them together or simply corrupting terms within to make malaphors. But then, that leads us to something else. A mixed metaphor that is deliberately made so, or say an intentional malaphor is called farberism. Here are some farberisms for fun. Please come up with some more:

They were both as strong as two peas in a pod.
They always bite the hand that lays the golden eggs.
This is the real carrot at the end of the rainbow.
He's a kind of Jekyll of all trades.
You're a parasite for sore eyes.
One back scratches another.
One doesn't swallow the whole cake at the first sitting.
One man's curiosity is another man's Pandora's box.
Our backs are up the wall.
Our deal fell through the boards.

Alex -J'ai mal a forehead.

Perfect timing!

Perfect timing, Alex! You couldn't have chosen a better time to reinvent Wordplay, Alex. The political scene is generating so much cr--that is, verbal turmoil--that the ludicrous language being spewed out by campaigning politicos and their advisors should continue to provide great opportunities for delightful repartee until November. (Unless I misunderestimate our zeal.)

Al

reeds like a duck

Thank you, Alex, for the honor of your invitation to post directly to this blog from the outset. I'm unfamiliar with blogging, but I hope that my existing patterns of blather will suffice for the nonce. In time I may come to know better. Meanwhile, a query: Is the ObWP a feature of this incarnation of Wordplay?

.

I wish I still found it funny to "flush out" a subject. Alas, the expression is ubiquitous at my new workplace. It means both "flesh out" and "flush out" -- a sad loss of clarity and finesse. The dry bones shudder. At this point I want to flush the phrase completely out of the vocabulary of anyone who is neither hunting nor irrigating (medically or otherwise).

.

On a more cheerful topic, however, I prefer to pull out only three or four stops at a time. I started playing on my father's harmonium (which he has still) before I could reach the pedals. It looks a good bit like this one, though with the stops arranged differently and less fancywork on top.

I sat on his lap, which danced as he pumped the pedals, mashing merrily on the keys with a fine disregard for the harmony for which the instrument is named. I learned early, probably even before I could talk, that one must NEVER try to play with all the stops pushed in. Later I learned why: with all the stops in, the pumped air has nowhere to go, and most likely will rip the bellows.

.

Indeed, one must be careful to pull out stops corresponding with the complete range of notes one intends to play. Some stops govern only one section of the keyboard. Thus my preference for pulling out three stops (top, middle, and bottom of the keyboard) or four (I never could resist the Vox Humana stop). However, pulling out all the stops turns playing the harmonium into a hefty workout, since utilizing ALL the reeds at once -- particularly if one is playing a lot of full, rich chords comprised of many notes each, and using the knee-levers to swell the volume a lot -- takes a good deal of air from the bellows.

.

Thus, in a way, playing a loud and full-bodied piece on the harmonium resembles the well-known image of a duck: balanced and smooth* above, while paddling -- er, pedaling -- like hell underneath.

[* smooth : Staccato is not an option on this instrument.]

Metaphors be with you!

I am reminded that mixed metaphors are now referred to as malaphors. That's an apt term, considering that it is in itself portmanteau for metaphor and malapropism. However, I tend to think that mixed metaphors would result from inadvertently mixing two perfectly distinct metaphorical expressions which have a certain term in common. On the other hand, a malaphor would be the result of committing malapropism in citing a metaphor. The bridge example I gave in the previous post is a perfect illustration of a mixed metaphor. A former participant to the old Wordplay list has supplied with me with a collection of malaphors he amassed over the years. Here are some of them:

I'm going to have to stay on the eyeball.
That is mundane to the topic at hand
We don't want to jump the gun too early.
I don't want to misspeak out of turn.
We're over inundating them with information
We need to appraise him of the fact
These figures personify a major mega-trend of enormous growth
We'll flush out the details later.
They'll give us feedback back.
The machine was misconfigured incorrectly
The circuits need to be trouble-shat.