Some Curious Malapropisms by Julia

For more information on malapropisms, see Malapropisms.

• "Wiley would know, but he's a menu-sexual" (instead of metro-sexual) (9/26/06)
• "It is art so you know it's open to anyone's impersonations" (instead of interpretation) (9/25/06 at TLI HQ)
• It's a niche that hasn't been itched (instead of It's an itch that needs to be scratched) (12-21-05)
• …red stuff on the blue stuff…(instead of wet stuff on the red stuff—referring to the expression firefighter use about putting out fires) (10-6-05 )
• Infantesimal instead of Infinitesimal (10-6-05 )
• "He's way uptight about us not giving them enough cooties " vs. kudos.
• "[Because we've already started working on these items,] we have the upper leg on several of them." A nice mix of "upper hand" and getting a "leg up."
• "Time was breathing down our throats."
• "He doesn't really have a pony in the fight."
• discussing assignment of tasks: "We have to define who's going to wrestle that chicken."
• "We can all show up at the table with our pony" either intended to use the phrase: a dog in this fight or maybe pet rock?
• speaking about her exuberant optimism: "I think I can do anything, which is sometimes to my demise " Not sure if that was meant to be dismay or downfall.
• "Hindsight is 50-50."
• "We might want to use the human games to illicit thinking from players" vs. elicit.
• "The soldier has an oracle on his helmet with the video display displayed to him." In fact, it was a monocle .
• "It's odd that we seldom disagree on any decisions, given that our working styles are diabolically opposed". Should have been diametrically .
• "The university is starting to teach a course in astrology " vs. astronomy .
• On the subject of a complicated work process, "people have to go through all these wicks " vs. wickets .
• two things are intertwingled , which is an innovative combination of intermingled and intertwined . This is not a malapropism, nor is it a spoonerism (interchanging parts of 2 successive words).
• People who are expendable were described as being extendable .
• On the turnover during a training exercise, "the same participants changed on a daily basis, like a rotating door."
• On potentially disappointing someone, "Not that we want to take the steam out of his bubble."
• "I don't know if we want to open this bag of nuts " vs. worms . At this meeting, we were eating pistachio nuts during the conversation. 10/1999.
• "I'm going to stick to him like glue on shit."
• "I want to strike while the iron is hot on everyone's head." 2/2000.
• Describing a mine detection project called the electronic dog's nose: "It's an automated tool for taking sensual information readings [she meant chemical signatures] to find land mines." 8/2000.
• "The more water you pour in the pond, the murkier it gets." 8/2000.
• "...Waldo in the midst of a mirage " vs. collage.
• Referring to a marketing approach: "Given Larry's success, it'd be good to trample him down." Fall 2000.
• During a discussion about when to reveal the identities of some wines in a blind tasting, "I don't know if we should let the beans out of the bag". An interesting mix of the cat out of the bag and spill the beans. April 1, 2001.
• "I'm doing this of my own fruition " vs. volition 5/2001.
• "It's based on Pavlov's hierarchy of needs" vs. Maslow's 5/2001.
• On immediately showing enthusiasm during a meeting: "if we go out of the guns" vs. out of the chute 5/2001.
• "You can't be averse to growth. You might have to be absolved " vs. absorbed [into a larger company] 7/2001.
• "This Jewish grandmother was so suspicious that she'd go up to people and give them a hand signal to ward off evil spirits" vs. superstitious 12/2001.
• "We'll keep it in there for prosperity " vs. posterity 12/2001.
• "This guy will live in our minds forever - what's his name?" 12/2001.