Mangled Sayings

The women in my family are known for mangling sayings and proverbs. I keep meaning to make a list of these so we'll remember them, but I never have. Today, I added a new one to the list so I'm going to actually make a permanent list here on my blog.

We are also a family that endlessly repeats our favourite quotes from The Simpsons, Police Squad, Fawlty Towers, and the like. I might make a post for those some day, but for today, it's the screwed-up sayings.

Said by me:

• "This one just bit the farm." (combo of 'bite the dust' and 'bought the farm') (this is today's gem)
• "We're behind the gun on this one." ('under the gun' and 'behind the eight ball')
• And my all-time classic, said at a buffet after I took way too much food... "I guess my eyes are bigger than my head."
  

Said by my mother:

• "What's the name of that movie... it's a question. I think it's 'can you believe it?' " (actual movie title: What Lies Beneath)
• There was a commercial in which a dull-sounding man says, "It's made me the party animal I always knew I could be." Mom's version? "It's made me the animal party I always knew I could be."
• Ironically, while we were teasing her for something else, "I'm being mis-aligned here!" (Do you mean 'maligned', perchance?)
  

Said by my younger sister:

• My latest book includes a reference to "don't look a gift horse in the mouth". While reading this, she called and asked Mr. W to finish the sentence "don't ___ a gift horse in the mouth". He, of course said 'look'. She was absolutely convinced it was 'kick'.
• This one was my fault, and isn't quite the same but it's funny so here it is. I was on an instant-messaging session with her and our youngest sister. Youngest and I are quite tech-oriented. YoungER, not so much. (Ack, they need nicknames. OK, younger shall be known as Lexi and youngest as Newt, after their cats). Poor Lexi was falling behind as Newt and I typed far too fast for her. I typed, "The problem's between your chair and keyboard." A good minute later, she says, "Hey! That's me!"
  

There are definitely more of these (I said another one yesterday but have since forgotten it) but this is at least a start.

My youngest sister, to my knowledge, doesn't mangle sayings like this, but I'll keep an eye on her and if she starts I'll add 'em. :)

This does appear to be a female thing in my family: my dad and brother say stupid things (a LOT) but not in this fashion. However, just to complicate things, my paternal grandmother once called a train station to ask what time the five o'clock train would be leaving. So, the siblings and I got it from both sides, apparently.

I intend to send this on to the family mailing list (we have a Yahoo! group - that's nerdy, right? Guess who started it? :) and see if anyone remembers any other gems!

Heather