swivel room

[Joel S. Berson]

At 8/15/2009 11:14 AM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
>"swivel room" strikes me as a perfectly reasonable metaphor.  granted,
>a new creation, instead of the conventionalized "wiggle room" (and,
>apparently, "wriggle room").  the three expressions are, of course,
>phonologically similar, which is why you might think that the less
>frequent variants originated as eggcorns.

"Swivel room" is what you have when you're a business-person in
trouble but still with a little leeway, sitting in your office on
your swivel chair.  "Wriggle room" is when you're down and out, flat
on the ground, like the snake you are.

Joel

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