Mixed Metaphor: Difference between revisions
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* Minako Aino does this all the time in ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', much to Artemis' dismay.
* In the novels for [[The Slayers]], Gourry mixed three metaphors together, one of which was a bit of an anachronism.
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* ''[[The Tower of Druaga (
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== Comic Books ==
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* In a ''[[Simpsons]] Comics'' [[Elseworld]] story, Homer was working for the Mafia, Comic Book Guy was the local don, and Lou and Eddie were his two flunkies. CBG assigned Homer to kill Milhouse, to which Homer remarked "Don't worry, boss. This little weiner is toast". CBG replied "Good. And please don't mix metaphors. You know it makes Lou nervous".
* This exchange between a thug and The Penguin in an issue of [[Batman]]
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'''Penguin''': I understand your point, Marco. Despite the murder of several metaphors to get there. }}
** In another issue, one of his goons says, "You know what they say, a penguin never forgets."
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== Film ==
* From ''[[
* From ''[[Hot Shots]]'' Part Deux: "Looks like the upper hand is on the other foot!"
* Similarly, from ''[[
* From the first ''[[Austin Powers]]'' film: "But unfortunately for yours truly, that train had sailed."
* Mr. Furious from ''[[Mystery Men]]'' does this a lot, often in conjunction with [[Metaphorgotten]]. "I don't need a compass to show me which way the wind shines."
* In [[The Movie]] of ''[[Master and Commander]]'', the entire final battle hinges on a tactical maneuver Captain Aubrey derives by completely mangling the notion of an insect that disguises itself as a stick to evade predators.
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'''Dr. Maturin''': Jack?
'''Captain Aubrey''': Yes?
'''Dr. Maturin''': You're the predator. }}
* Biff Tannen from the ''[[Back to The Future]]'' trilogy: "Make like a tree, and get out of here."
** Ironically, it was the 2015 Biff that corrects him, saying, "It's ''leave'', you idiot! "Make like a tree and ''leave''." You sound like a damn fool when you say that wrong."
*** And BUFORD. Honestly:
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'''Henchman:''' It's dog, Buford. Shoot him down like a dog. }}
** Let's just say it's about as funny as a screen door on a battleship.
* In ''[[The Boondock Saints]],'' the bartender Doc was always doing this.
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'''Rocco:''' Hey, Doc, I've gotta buy you, like, a proverb book or something. This mix and match shit's gotta go. }}
:: Eventually the other characters start making fun of him for it, saying things like: "A penny saved is worth two in the bush" and "And don't cross the road if you can't get out of the kitchen."
* The Dude from ''[[The Big Lebowski]]''
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'''The Dude:''' Does the pope shit in the woods? }}
* From the movie ''North:''
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* [[Disney]]'s ''[[Pinocchio]]:''
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* ''[[The Social Network]]'':
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'''Amy:''' Foot?
'''Sean:''' ... table, which has turned. }}
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* [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[The Stainless Steel Rat]]'s Revenge'': Inskipp says they "must get a man to Cliaand to root out the problem at the core of the woodpile and cut the Gordian knot." Slippery Jim replies, "Other than being contained in a mixed and disgusting metaphor I think the idea is a suicidal one."
* Happens ''constantly'' in the [[Aubrey-Maturin]] books. Usually in the form of Jack mixing a metaphor, Stephen "helpfully" correcting him, and Jack becoming even more confused. To wit...
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'You mean, prove the tree by its eating.'
'No, no, Stephen, you are quite out: eating a tree would prove nothing.' }}
* Used a lot in [[Discworld]], primarily by Mustrum Ridcully and Nanny Ogg - example from the latter "The worm is on the other foot now!" (mixing 'the worm has turned' with 'the boot is on the other foot now').
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* [[Dave Barry]] likes to mix his metaphors. One impressive example: ''[[Dave Barry]] Slept Here'' describes the Great Crash of 1929 as the day when "the nation's seemingly prosperous economy was revealed to be merely a paper tiger with feet of clay living in a straw house of cards that had cried 'wolf' once too often."
* [[Poul Anderson]]'s [[Technic History]]: Nicholas Van Rijn, along with [[Malaproper|malapropisms]], often mixed metaphors. Particularly appealing was his reference to forcefully seeking something he wanted "like a bulldozer going after a cowdozer."
* Lampshaded in ''[[Dirk
* In ''[[
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* The Mayor on ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': "This year is too important to let a loose cannon rock the boat. Loose cannon. Rock the boat. Is that a mixed metaphor? Boats did have cannons. And a loose one would cause it to rock."
* Common on ''[[Yes Minister]]'', with Bernard usually lampshading them:
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'''Bernard''': If you pull it off, it won't be in your cap any more. }}
** There was a clusterbomb of mixed metaphors in episode 4 of season 2:
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'''Jim Hacker''': And then the balloon goes up.
'''Sir Desmond''': Obviously. }}
** And from the sequel, ''[[Yes Prime Minister]]'':
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'''Sir Humphrey''': "Yes, I must say it's a rather undignified posture. But it is what artists always do: crawling towards the government on their knees, shaking their fists."
'''Jim Hacker''': "Beating me over the head with their begging bowls."
'''Bernard Woolley''': "Oh, I am sorry to be pedantic, Prime Minister, but they can't beat you over the head if they're on their knees. Unless of course they've got very long arms." }}
* ''[[Life On Mars]]'':
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'''Sam''': You're using mixed metaphors
'''Gene''': Right, whatever, the smaller fish want to enter the hunting grounds. }}
* After {{spoiler|Chris'}} death in the sixth season of ''[[The Sopranos]]'', Tony has to dispel a rumor that ''he'' killed him ({{spoiler|he did so as a mercy killing after a car crash}}). He starts off by saying, "Okay, we gotta deal with the 500-pound [[Elephant in
* Nina from ''[[Just Shoot Me]]'': "A bird in the hand is worth two if by sea" and "Denial is not just a river in England."
* Magda from Brazilian sitcom ''Sai de Baixo'', being from the [[The Ditz|ditzy]] kind of stupid, has some of these such as "Who plants the wind, reaps blood, sweat and beers" and "everyone in life must plant a son, have a book and write a tree!".
* Kelly Bundy from ''[[Married...
* Cyril Bryson on ''[[
* The Seventh Doctor on ''[[
** People forget that the Fourth Doctor did it too (just never in such a high concentration). "While there's life, there's six of one, half a dozen of the other."
* Michael Scott of [[The Office]] does this just about [[Once an Episode]].
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* Serena on ''[[Gossip Girl]]'' talks about how her mother ''adapts'' to each new husband:
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* One of [[El Chapulin Colorado]]'s trademark gags: every time he tries to cite a famous saying he gets it mixed with another one, and ends up saying "...Well, you get the idea."
* [[Lampshaded]] on ''[[Mad Men]]'' when Bert Cooper calls Don in to tell him they can't fire Pete Campbell because his family is too old and important. He starts off about how New York City is like a fine watch full of tiny, precise parts and always ticking away. Don says it sounds more like a bomb. Cooper says that if they fire Pete word will get around to the Dykeman-Campbells' million connections around the city and the agency will lose some of its establishment cred, and when Don objects to this kind of nepotism, Cooper tells him, "You'll have to have a stronger stomach if you want to be back in the kitchen seeing how the sausage is made." Don, after a beat: "I thought it was a big watch."
* In ''[[The Thin Blue Line]]'' episode "Night Shift", Inspector Grim informs everyone that he is looking for:
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* Shawn Micallef does this in ''[[Talkin Bout Your Generation]]'': "And next up, something that will literally blow the socks off your mind."
* On ''[[True Blood]]'' Jason is famous for these "If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, it's still a tree isn't it!"
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* This was part of what made [[Elton John]]'s Princess Diana version of "Candle in the Wind" so notorious. She's a candle, but she's also a rose and a golden child, capable of leaving footprints on England's green hills, plus equipped with wings of compassion. Cause of death was wind, rain, and/or the fading of the sunset.
* Kathy Mattea's "Clown in Your Rodeo" completely derails its rodeo metaphors in the second verse:
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I'm cleaning house out of the gate
Before my heart starts caving in }}
* [[
* Martina McBride's "Ride" has "Life is a roller coaster ride / Time turns the wheel and love collides." Wait, what?
* The second and third verses of "Run-Around" by [[Blues Traveler]] are constant strings of these.
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== Radio ==
* Inspired a song by [[Mitch Benn]] on ''[[The Now Show]]'' after he heard a spokesman described global warming by saying the world was "standing on the precipice of a runaway train". [https://web.archive.org/web/20191016110144/http://www.mitchbenn.com/music-stuff/80/the_devil_and_a_hard_place.html Listen to it here.]
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And it's a different kettle of ball games... }}
* In an episode of ''Unnatural Acts'', Jeremy takes various mixed medicines, [[Lemon Wacky Hello|with predictably spaced-out results.]] His speech pattern changes to reflect this, with mixed metaphors being one of the symptoms.
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* In ''[[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
== Theater ==
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* [[Older Than Steam]]: ''[[Hamlet]]'': "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?" Apparently, [[Shakespeare]] was [[The Zeroth Law of Trope Examples|notorious for this.]] Then again, Hamlet was probably Schizophrenic.
== All
* All-Devouring Black Hole [[All Devouring Black Hole Loan Sharks]], the trope title. Sharks and black holes both have a well-deserved reputation for devouring and destruction--but surely they don't have anything else in common. Perhaps this status as a mixed metaphor is one reason why the "all-devouring black hole" part is now a mere alternate title for the trope, but it could be argued that this makes the trope more fun since comparing anything to a black hole is a very [[Hypocritical Humor|colorful metaphor.]]▼
▲* All-Devouring Black Hole [[All Devouring Black Hole Loan Sharks]], the trope title. Sharks and black holes both have a well-deserved reputation for devouring and
== Web Comics ==
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* [[Homestuck]] has many examples, the most self aware would be: "So many irons in the fire. Such a tangled web. It is a web full of flaming irons and mixed metaphors."
* [[Basic Instructions]]: [http://basicinstructions.net/basic-instructions/2012/1/8/how-to-accept-forgiveness.html You're a pig, cause you squealed, like a rat!"]
* In ''[[No Rest for The Wicked (
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' deals with lots of very different species, so imported metaphors don't always pass customs easily, and sometimes get [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2016-02-24 crammed together] in new and amusing ways.
== Western Animation ==
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* Zapp Brannigan of ''[[Futurama]]'': "Once we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate."
** Also from "Future Stock".
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* Abe Linclon on [[Clone High]] had a few.
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** Also:
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'''Joan:''' That may be, but I sent you up that river with my heart as a paddle!
'''Abe:''' But you took that paddle and smacked me in the face, and I wear my heart on my sleeve, so when I wiped my face, I got heart all over it." }}
* And of course, [[Memetic Mutation|this]] [[
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* From ''[[Dan Vs.]]'' "The Dentist,":
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'''Chris''': I think you're mixing up games.
'''Dan''': Go fish! I'm in horrible pain! }}
* From an episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'':
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* In ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force]]'': Rath's food is accidentally blown away by Octagon Vreedle, prompting Rath to say "A man's food is his castle!" (Octagon calls him out on it, using the page title).
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* A few years ago, this quote from a participant in a symposium about AIDS: "We are sitting on a volcano and running toward disaster!" Here, the translator may be to blame. Or else they were doing that russian sitting dance...
* From a Newt Gingrich press release:
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