more syntactic blending

[Erin McKean]

While traveling this past week I  heard a "maple" syrup commercial
where the end line was "It's not rocket surgery!"

Yet another instance of being reminded of a linguistic process and then
hearing it everywhere ...

Erin McKean
editor at verbatimmag.com


On Mon, 13 Oct 2003, Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:

>  "The line was busy" + "The phone was off the hook."
>
>  Gerald Cohen
>
>       -----Original Message-----
>       From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Dennis R. Preston
>       Sent: Mon 10/13/2003 8:12 AM
>       To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>       Cc:
>       Subject: Re: Syntactic blending: bunker down
>
>
>
>       I cannot find what syntax is blended in "I tried to reach you but the
>       line was off the hook."
>
>       dInIs
>
>       >"Bunker down" is not a blend. It's merely "hunker down" with the
>       >intrusion of "bunker" (based both on phonetic similarity and the idea
>       >of hunkering down in a bunker.
>       >
>       >>How can you test hypotheses about syntactic blending?  They are
>       >>common in bureaucratic/business speech and writing, but
>       >>investigation is a delicate matter.
>       >
>       >
>       >Syntactic blending is not really a feature of bureaucratic/business
>       >speech and writing, although it may occasionally creep in there, as
>       >it does elsewhere in everyday speech.  As for investigation, this is
>       >really a straightforward matter.
>       >If an unusual construction is patently composed of two at least
>       >roughly synonymous parts, it's a blend. (End of investigation).
>       >
>       >   For example, I once told my wife: "I tried to reach you, but the
>       >line was off the hook." As soon as I said it, I realized it was a
>       >blend. One of my students was in my office when I said that, and when
>       >I finished the conversation with my wife, he looked at me and said:
>       >"You know, that was a blend." (I had talked about blends earlier in
>       >the semester.
>       >
>       >   This particular blend was, of course: "The line was busy" + "The
>       >"phone was off the hook."
>       >
>       >   There are loads of examples.
>       >
>       >Gerald Cohen
>       >
>       >
>       >At 11:41 AM -0400 10/10/03, Seˆ°n Fitzpatrick wrote:
>       >>My grandmother called these "malaphors":  mala(propism) + (meta)phore
>       >>
>       >>>From "Jonestown for Democrats:  Liberals follow Gray into the big
>       >>>nowhere", by Marc Cooper in the LA Weekly http://tinyurl.com/qgfm
>       >>>(emphasis added)
>       >>   As the insurgency swelled, the best that liberal activists could
>       >>do was plug their ears, cover their eyes and rather mindlessly
>       >>repeat that this all was some sinister plot linked to Florida,
>       >>Texas, Bush, the Carlyle Group, Enron, and Skull and Bones. By
>       >>BUNKERING DOWN with the discredited and justly scorned Gray Davis,
>       >>they wound up defending an indefensible status quo against a surging
>       >>wave of popular disgust.
>       >>"Hunker down" mixed up with some such phrase as  "go into
>the bunker with".
>       >>How can you test hypotheses about syntactic blending?  They are
>       >>common in bureaucratic/business speech and writing, but
>       >>investigation is a delicate matter.  People I've questioned haven't
>       >>known where they got the phrase.  Some were scarcely aware that they
>       >>had used it, some became indignant at having their wordsmithing
>       >>remarked upon or irritated at not knowing where the malaphore came
>       >>from, and a few have conceded they had probably confused a phrase or
>       >>two.
>       >>Seˆ°n Fitzpatrick
>
>       --
>       Dennis R. Preston
>       University Distinguished Professor
>       Department of Linguistics & Germanic, Slavic,
>             Asian & African Languages
>       Michigan State University
>       East Lansing, MI 48824-1027
>       e-mail: preston at msu.edu
>       phone: (517) 432-3099
>
>
>