Blend: "my eyebrows dropped"

[Gerald Cohen]

    I noticed the following interesting syntactic blend in the Wall Street
Journal, October 24, 2000, p.A27/1; letter to editor  with title: "Is
Dimaggio's 'Streak' Really So Important?":

    "...While I am used to the hype that 'The Streak' is accorded, my
eyebrows still dropped when I read Mr. Tofel characterize it as 'the
longest lasting record of significance in baseball history'...."

    The blend here: "My jaw dropped" and "My eyebrows shot up,"  with
reference of course to surprise.

----Gerald Cohen



gcohen at umr.edu