What is this?

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Jun 8, 2005, at 9:12 AM, Peter A. McGraw wrote:

>> From an internal memo here at Linfield:
>
> "Because they can't review the credentials of the successful hire,
> they are
> putting a lot of eggs on the quality of the consultant."
>
> This isn't a blend of two idioms, like "horse of a different
> feather" (a
> usage beloved of the mother of a childhood friend of mine).
> Rather, it's
> an incomplete one, which renders it comical.

it could be viewed as a substitution blend, in the sense of David Fay
(1981.  Substitutions and splices: A study of sentence blends.
Cutler 1981:717-49.).  in such a blend, an expression -- not
necessarily idiomatic -- has a word replaced by interference from
another.  in this case: "put a lot of significance/importance/
weight/... on", with "eggs" intruding from the semantically related
"put all one's eggs in a single basket".

looks like a one-shot event, in any case.  no relevant google web
hits on "put/putting a lot of eggs on".

but... wait!  "put all your eggs on" produces some relevant examples
-- "why put all your eggs on Immortals", "Don't put all your eggs one
one planet", "Don't put all your eggs on one disk so to speak", "It's
dangerous to put all your eggs on scores", "Never put all your eggs
on one diskette" -- plus a fair number of "put all your eggs on one
basket" (with "on" rather than "in").

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)